Pakistan’s geographical position and globalization: Opportunities and challenges

Summary

Globalization has regional characteristics which determine the trends of globalization. How globalization is proceeding in Pakistan is dependent on the geographical position of Pakistan. Pakistan is connecting Central Asia to West Asia the two major centers of fossil fuel. The immediate neighborhood of Strait of Hormuz make geographical position of Pakistan a strategic one for growing economies of South China Sea who are heavily dependent on the Strait of Malacca especially for China who has also land connection with Pakistan. Geographical position of Pakistan has shaped the process of globalization in all three stages of globalization. In Eastern globalization being in the middle of Silk Road and Indian Ocean mercantile system as well as having fertile lands along Indus river surrounding by Khyber and Bolan passes, it attracted many major invasions from all notable nations Aryans, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Afghans and British. These invasions evolved culturally plural society which has extended its cultural relations beyond the South Asia to East and West Asia. In Western globalization, Indian mercantile system attracted Danish, French, Portuguese, Dutch and lastly British Colonial powers to area and the Khyber and Bolan Pass made British Empire to strengthen its hold in present day Pakistan to maintain its monopoly on Indian Ocean mercantile system as well as to limit the Russian Empire. The geographical position of present day Pakistan in Western globalization and its cultural make up evolved during Eastern globalization resettled society based on Muslim nationalism which led to creation of Pakistan. International globalization revived the vitality of Indian Ocean and Silk Road not by demand of Silk and Spice but by demand of Oil and cheap skilled labors. Being in the Middle of the new revival of the Indian Ocean Pakistan faces several challenges as well as opportunities that are extended beyond its geographical borders due to international globalization. These challenges based on their regional concentrations categorized into different arcs, arc of fossil fuel, arc of Muslim countries, arc of rising powers, arc of skill and investment dislocations, arc of nuclear conflict, arc of crisis and political disability and arc of terrorism. Certainly these regional challenges as well as regional opportunities could be handled best through regional organizations like OIC and SARRC and to do this we need smart governance. Smart governance is the only way that Pakistan can stand in new trend of globalization which stresses on projection of smart power.

Pakistan’s geographical position and globalization: Opportunities and challenges

Introduction

Two phenomenons have shaped the post Soviet Union World namely, globalization and clash of civilizations. These two phenomenons are at same time complementing each other as well as cancealing each other. Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations?” first appeared in 1993 in Foreign Affairs magazine. Though Huntington was not the first person to propose the concept of Clash of civilization but, perfect timing (soon after collapse of USSR) made it widely popularized. Globalizoth is discussed both in context of clash of civilizations and integration of civilizations into a global civilization. Every region and country of the world has responded differently to phenomenon of globalization. As it comes to Pakistan, globalization is not new for this country. It has both historical and geographical roots in globalizations (not globalization).

Before I begin to discuss the phenomenon of globalization in the context of geographical position of Pakistan, it is better to introduce ourselves with two important aspects of globalization,

i- Globalization is an answer to clash of civilizations. As cultures are not genetically inherited but they are learnt so globalization is process of unlearning cultural faults by learning about them.

ii- Another aspect of globalization is the process of “deglobalization”. The most dominant characteristics globalization is the mobility of people across nations. Two important factors, one is economical and other is political have slowed down the mobility of people. The economic factor is global economic depression and political one is global terrorism. These two factors have even started a process of “reverse brain drain”.

As decolonization resulted into shift of globalization from one phase into another so “deglobalization” is also a shift of globalization into a new phase. The term of globalization has popularized during 20th century. As globalization is a phenomenon of the interconnectedness of nations and people of world through trade, investments, education, social and cultural interactions and travel so it is not a phenomenon limited only to 20th century and has its roots in history. Based on the place, time and active zone of the globalization we have divided the history of globalization into three eras,

I-Eastern globalization

II-Western globalization

II-International globalization

The geographic position of Pakistan is very unique in all three eras of the globalization. By studying the previous eras of globalization in the context of geographical position of present day Pakistan and the opportunities and challenges they had been providing are also providing lessons and understandings for present day globalization and its opportunities and challenges.

I. Eastern globalization

Asia comprise 30 percent of the land mass of the earth. It was the scene of the first empires and first civilizations of human being. The rise of earlier civilizations in great river valleys of Southwest Asia along Fertile Crescent (Tigris and Euphrates), Northwest India along Indus valley and North China along yellow river indicates that these regions of Asia had surplus grains and products to offer so these offerings resulted to exchange of materials or trade between them. The earlier trade routes linked different earlier civilizations called Silk Road. Silk Road was the birth place of globalization and as it was situated in Asia so it is called Eastern globalization. We can still observe the results of developments of earlier civilizations and following globalization in the form of heavy population of Asia (3/5th of world’s population, 4.05 billion in 2008).

A- Characteristics of Eastern globalization

Eastern globalization had two phases. Phase one that is the birthplace of globalization is Silk Road trade route that is started around 200 B.C and continued to around 1000 A.D. The second phase of Eastern globalization of mercantile system of Indian Ocean that started around 1000 and were dominated Silk Road trade till 1500 A.D.

a- Silk Road (200 B.C to 1000 A.D)

The Silk Road started by the search of Chinese for allies in central Asia against Mongol nomads but these searches started a trade route between China and central Asia. Later on Persian involved in this trading that extended this route to Western Asia. By participation of Romans in trades of through this routes extended it further to Europe and North Africa. Han dynasty of China, Parthia dynasty of Persia and Roman empires built roads and provided the political stability to flourish the trade through these routes. Silk Road was a network of routes connecting people of China, central Asia, South Asia, Western Asia and Mediterranean regions through trade goods, new ideas, arts, cultures and religions from 200 BC to 1000 AD.

1- Silk Road and spread of Buddhism

The traders of the Silk Road were not only trading Silk, Porcelain and precious stones but also trading cultures, arts and religions. The missionaries traveled with Silk Road traders helped spread Buddhism to South Asia, Central and East Asia. The spread of Buddhism is the most significant characteristics of early globalization through Silk Road. Buddhism helped reshaping every aspect of lives of people of these regions into a common global culture of Buddhism ranging from dietary, arts, world view and structures of their societies.

b- Indian Ocean (1000 A.D to 1500 A.D)

The sea trade has seen a rise in Indian Ocean from 1000 to 1500 AD especially between South Asia and Middle East. The sea travel was safer, required little time for travelers as well as less expensive so it helped to transport the items of the daily usage also. The establishing of the maritime system in Indian Ocean soon dominated the trades over land and it resulted in Abandonment of Silk Road trade routes. The flourishing of trade route through Indian Ocean evolved the globalization as it not only helped spreading of Islam to East Asia but also attracted Westerner traders and Kingdoms which later on resulted in Colonization of Asia and Africa.

Two main Straits helped flourishing the Indian Ocean including,

i- Strait of Hormuz

ii- Strait of Melaka

The Strait of Hormuz and Strait of Malacca were connecting the city ports of Hormuz on Persian Coast to Cambay on Northwest of India, Calicut on Southwest of India, Malacca in Malacca Strait and African city States like Mombasa and Kilwa on East Africa making a vast and global mercantile system in Indian Ocean. The exchange items increased compared to Silk road trade which were dominated by exchange of Silk, Porcelain and precious stones to Spices of East Africa and Indonesia, gold and tin from Malaya, carpet from Java, textiles from India, Gold from Zimbabwe and Silk, Porcelain and tea from China. This diversification of the trading transformed Malacca a real cosmopolitan city where traders from different nationalities like Arabs, Persians, Indians, Chinese, Turks, Jews, Armenian, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Javanese, Burmese, Ethiopians, and Egyptians had settled and were active traders in Malacca.

2- Indian Ocean and spread of Islam

From 1000 to 1400 AD Muslims dominated the Indian Ocean mercantile which has connected the North Africa, Spain, Malaya and Indonesian archipelago, South China ocean countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, China, South Asian Countries like India and Sri Lanka and Middle eastern countries like Persian and Arabia and through Mediterranean to Europe. Dominance of Muslim traders helped them spread their faith in the trading regions and hence spreading Islam to East Asia, South Asia and North Africa.

B- Position of Subcontinent in Eastern globalization

Due to several factors the Subcontinent had a central position in both stages of the Eastern globalization. Plenty of grains in fertile lands along Indus and Ganges rivers, Important passes like Khyber and Bolan Pass that were connecting Central Asia, China with West Asia and religious and Cultural hub of Buddhism provided it a central position in the early stage of Eastern globalization that is Silk Road.

Similarly, Textile and spices along with Cambay and Calicut ports gave it a central position in second stage of Eastern globalization as it linked East Asia through Malacca Strait and Ceylon to West Asia through Hormuz Strait and North Africa through Red Sea.

The role of Chinese is important in both of these phases of Eastern globalization is important related to position of Subcontinent. Though all notable nations invaded subcontinent but Chinese didn’t. Chinese were the most dominate nation of this area in terms of trade, population, knowledge, area and technological achievements and the continuous flooding of Yellow river were causing cycles of food shortage and even famines. There were plenty of grains, trade and docile people in Subcontinent but still Chinese never invaded the Subcontinent. The reason was the geographical barriers that were stopping China. The Himalaya ranges, Gobi desert and the Sea were the barriers to Chinese invasion.

a- Opportunities

i- Though the Silk Road were not contributing much in terms of commerce and trade as it were heavily relied on Silk, porcelain and precious stones for elite classes of Western Asia and Mediterranean regions to be profitable but it was the first form of globalization which helped flow of arts, culture, religions and new ideas.

ii- As Trade could flourish only under political stability and facilitating of caravans so it helped in flourishing of strong dynasties and infrastructure and social developments in the Silk Road.

iii- The Silk Road provides routes for exchange of knowledge and scholars. The Scholars from different regions come to Chinese, Persian and Roman courts to serve and spread their knowledge. This was the earliest form of the brain drain phenomenon.

iv- The propagation of Buddhism and Islam through trade routes resulted in reconciliations of different cultures, and tribes and increased the interconnectedness of the people living in these areas.

b- Challenges

i- Though trade routes helped spreading religion and cultures developed in Subcontinent to other areas of Asia but it also provided a route for invaders. The fertile lands around Indus and Ganges rivers were producing enormous amounts of grains and populations which were basic needs of empires so it attracted invaders like Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Afghans, Mongols and British.

ii- These routes helped spreading of epidemic diseases through Caravans.

iii- Trade routes attracted thieves and Bandits and increased insecurity which resulted in abandonments of these routes.

iv-Sea trades also attracted Westerners which later on resulted in colonization of Africa and Asia.

C- Shift of globalization from East to West (The role of Mongolian Empire in transferring globalization from east to west)

In a century from 1250 AD to 1350 the Mongols conquered China, Siberia, Tibet, Korea, Russia, much of Eastern Europe, Afghanistan, Persia, Turkey, and parts of Arab civilization in the Middle East connecting Europe, North Africa, Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia and East Asia with each other. The security provided by the Mongolian Empires increased the trade and cultural exchanges in large amounts that history had never seen. West Europe remained unconnected because Western Europe was too much underdeveloped to attract Mongols. This extensive globalization made for the first time to export Gun powder, rockets and mortars invented in China into Europe. Introductions of these war machines helped Europe to develop them further and after weakening of Mongol Empire by help of these war machines colonize the Africa, Asia and America.

II. Western globalization

Europe is an extension of Asian landmass has the third largest population (730 million people) among continents. The small land mass of Europe as well as its high lands, with cold winters and mild summers provided earlier Europeans less grains to establish notable civilizations so they lived under the dominance of Mediterranean nations like Greeks and later Romans which had sea access and trade to North Africa and West Asia. The pressure of populations as well as contacts by Asians through crusades, Mongol Empire and Trades lead Europe into Renaissance, reformation, explorations, colonization and enlightenments which caused mass migrations and settlements of European nations to America, Australia, Africa and dominance over sea and overland trades. These series of historical developments led to interconnectedness of European nations stretching from Middle East in the East to America in the West is called Western globalization.

A-Characteristics of Western globalization

a- Crusades activated the shipments of crusaders and trading of supplies to crusaders which resulted in introduction of new social groups of traders in Europe. These newly become wealthy traders financed trades and explorations in Indian Ocean mercantile which were dominated by Muslim traders.

b- These trades fueled consumerism in Europe at first for spices, precious stones, art crafts, arms and exotic zoological and botanical specimens to Aristocratic families and later for newly wealthy merchants and others.

c- Crusades, expulsions of Jews and Muslims from Spain and the demands for oriental art crafts in Europe opened the doors of European cities for Oriental artists and artisans. These cultural resettlements led to cultural pluralism of European societies.

d-The dominance of Muslims especially the Ottoman Empire in Ocean and overland trades of East forced newly rich traders-bankers to cooperate with each other and construct companies to finance explorations of new trade routes in Ocean.

e- The expansion of Mongol Empires from Central Asia, China, India, Parts of Arabia, China and Eastern Europe encourage trading overland and Oceans. Through these trades three important factors of European dominance introduced to Europe via China, namely Magnet, Gunpowder and Printing.

i- Magnet enabled navigations in Open Ocean and also in unexplored areas and helped in discovering new lands and also new routes out of eyes of Ottoman Empires to Indian Ocean mercantile.

ii- Gunpowder enabled first Portuguese, then Dutch, British and Spanish to colonize the Africa, Asia, America and Australia.

iii- Wealth from trades and colonization helped spreading mass printing which led to renaissance, reformation and enlightenments. Quest for wealth and knowledge led to Western globalization which influenced other nations also.

f- Industrialization fueled by colonization and Scientific advancements led to rise of nationalism and economic ideologies. The Western world allied themselves on the basis of nationalistic and economical ideas which resulted in two world wars.

B- Position of Subcontinent in Western globalization

The mercantile system of the Indian Ocean was so important for Europeans that several European nations developed East India Company to dominate the trade in Indian Ocean. British East India Company, French East India Company, Dutch East India Company and Danish East India Company are companies that traded and involved in colonization of Indian subcontinent. During Mongol Empire the Indian cities were rich and industrialized to standards of that time as they were exporting textiles and other art products through Indian Ocean mercantile system. The East India companies was established to promote the mercantilism a policy in which the amounts of exports has to be kept higher than imports under the strict government supervision and control. Due to the policy of mercantilism the local industries of subcontinent damaged very badly. Many artisans left craft works and joined the agricultural sectors so the percentage of people related to agricultural works increased from 63% to 75% from Mongol empire to British Empire.

Mercantilism policies of British Empire led to American Revolution. The weakening of control due to mercantilism as well competitions among colonial empire led to free trade concepts but to importance of subcontinent as a source of raw materials and large markets the British Empire resisted to free trade and continued the mercantilist policies until 1930.

C- Shift of globalization from Western globalization to International globalization

Five main processes which shift Western globalization into International globalization is as follows,

a-Decolonization: The mercantilism policies of the colonial empires left limited chances of trade and economic developments which led to the rise of nationalistic sentiments. These nationalistic movements weakened the hold of colonial powers over their colonies. The Second World War added to these weaknesses which resulted to decolonization process. Due to decolonization many new nation states born and the free trade promoted and expanded. Though decolonization helped in development of international globalization but it had serious regional obstacle and weaknesses.

b-United Nations: Second World War was so disastrous that to stop further wars and to resolve the conflicts more peacefully an organization was built of state nations. Still United Nations was so weak that couldn’t stop the realignments along the Capitalist bloc and Communist bloc and hence the threat of war remained alive in the Cold War period. Though UN was an important step towards international globalization but still it was too weak to liberate the nations and lead the world.

c-Collapse of Soviet Union: The Collapse of Soviet Union was one of the key mile stone towards the international globalization as more free nations introduced to world and the interconnectedness and free trade increased. It also melted down the polarity of world and led the nation state to follow their national dreams.

d-World Trade Organization: After World War Two the demand for freer trade was strongly felt to rebuild the economies damaged due to war and long colonization. In 1948 the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) a treaty and International Trade Organization signed by 23 nation states. The purpose was to reduce protectionism and promote free trade. In 1995 GATT was replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO) which was the real step towards international globalization as it had 142 members in 2001. Though WTO was a broad based organization for worldwide free trade but still it was not a true agent of the International globalization as it still couldn’t stop protectionist policies of the nation states.

e-World Wide Web: World Wide Web the first true agent of the international globalization as it provided a cheap and effective means of the communication to individuals in all corners of world. Unlike other mediums of communications like newspaper, radio and television it was a decentralized means of communications. Individuals around the world could share and exchange knowledge, information and doing commerce with fewer interventions of governments. World Wide Web has transformed the world into international globalized world.

III. International globalization

A-Characteristics of International globalization

Earlier in position of subcontinent in Eastern globalization we have concluded that the reason that China didn’t invaded Subcontinent was geographical barriers. By reemergence of China as a power in the international globalization China is struggling to overcome those geographical barriers by constructing Karakorum Highway and developing Tibet to cut the Himalayas, by developing interior Mongolia to cut the Gobi desert, and to develop Xinjiang to reconnect itself to Fergana valley as well as Caspian sea oil and gas region. By developing string of pearls it want to overcome the Indian Ocean barriers. If China succeeds to overcome this geographical barriers and the railway networks evolves from South, west and central Asia, Eurasia to European and trans American railway network then certainly the world enters in the second phase of international globalization.

a- Reemergence of Indian Ocean

The Malacca Strait, once again become alive by rapid growths of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Most dominantly China. Similarly the Strait of Hormuz involved in more extensive transportations of trade goods by fossil fuel exports as well as by rapid growth of UAE and Iran. The rapid growth of India had almost completed the mercantile system of Indian Ocean during its golden period of Eastern globalization. Indian Ocean links the Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Ocean hence it works like a highway for the transportation of goods to all over world. More than three quarters of the transported goods is of extra-regional demands. One of the most essential commodities is oil that all countries need uninterrupted supply of them for proper running of their economy.

b- Reemergence of Silk road

Though highways are poor in Central and Southwest Asia but the countries like Iran, Turkey, China, India, Pakistan, Central Asian countries and Russia have extensive networks of railway lines which are connected to Europe via Turkey. The Trans-Caspian, Turk Siberian railway lines are promising for reemergence of Silk Road and overland trade. Iran has connected its railway line to Pakistan-India railway line through Taftan-Zahidan network. As Iranian railway network is connected to Turkey and Turkey to European railway network as well as Central Asian network so the Iranian railway line is connecting Strait of Hormuz to Central Asia, South Asia and to Europe via Turkey. The extension of Iranian and Turkmenistan railway line to Heart of Afghanistan, are connecting Afghanistan also to these networks.

c- Rise of Soft power (President Clinton’s era)

By collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992 the cold war ends and the threats of communist bloc vanish out. It was the time that new democratic president Bill Clinton become the President of the USA the sole global power. Bill Clinton promotes the policy of non interventionism and the next 8 years USA enjoys a constant economical growth. The projection of US values and cultures and economy in this period despite of its military might is known as Soft Power. The space left by both USSR and USA made favorable conditions for grouping, growth and projections of arms bandits who have fought against the USSR and now they have turned their face to West and Islamic countries allied to West. In President Clinton’s period several attacks on US Embassies and other positions occurred. In the same time Taliban emerged in Afghanistan which intensified the extremism.

d- Rise of Hard Power (President Bush’s era)

The 9/11 terrorist attack on USA in 2001 made USA to realize that soft power has weakened its global position so US started following a new policy of projecting the military power of USA. It was the start of global war on terrorism started by President Bush. The dependence and focus on military power declined the soft image of USA in the whole world and especially in Islamic world. It also affected the world trade and was one the factors of global economic depression.

e-Rise of Smart Power (President Obama’s era)

The new President of Barack Obama is not only a change of face and tradition in US but also hoped as a change in policies also. Secretary of State Clinton has spoken of Smart Power that is a conversion of both Soft Power and hard power to increase advantages and decrease the disadvantages of both soft power and hard power used alone. According Professor Joseph S. Nye Jr. it is easy for a country to change policies instead of changing its culture and values. The purpose of projection of the smart power is defined to achieve a broad array of goals,

i- Self determination

ii- Human rights

iii-Free trade

iv-Rule of law

v-Economic development

vi-Neutralizing weapons of mass destruction

Certainly both the policy of smart power as well as its goals are agents of promoting globalization and as Pakistan is on the list of key focal point so we need to answer the projection of the smart power by US through projection of smart governance. With having elected government and restored judiciary it is time to focus on smart governance to become able to project our own smart power and solve our problems.

B- Position of Pakistan in International globalization

Pakistan’s geographical position has made it a key state in the international globalization which at the same time providing opportunities as well as challenges. Opportunities come from being on arc of fossil fuel exports, Islamic countries, rising powers like China and India, dislocations of businesses, skills and investments. Challenges come being on arc of nuclear powers, arc of crisis and arc of terrorism which are threatening the stability as well as the very existence of Pakistan.

a- Opportunities

1)Arc of fossil fuel exports

The demand for fossil fuel is increasing in rising industries of China and India. Both China and India want an uninterrupted supply of fossil fuels to ensure the consistency of their developments. The dependence of China on the Malacca Strait for Persian Gulf Oil threatens for flow of oil in the time of crisis with India or USA, so the China looks to Gwadar Port as an alternative supply route especially during the crisis. Gwadar port is part of famous string of pearl strategy of China to counter the threats to supply of fossil fuel. Gwadar is the most strategic port as it is close to Strait of Hormuz. To counter the efforts of China and to strengthen hold on the Hormuz Strait India is developing the Chah Bahar Port of Iran. Pakistan could be a high way for fossil fuel linking Iran to India and China via land. Similarly it could become a highway for Caspian fossil fuel via Afghanistan to Gwadar port.

2)Arc of Islamic countries

There are 57 Islamic countries with estimated population of 1.5 billion people which speak 60 different languages with diverse ethnic backgrounds. These Muslim countries are concentrated in Central, South, West Asia and North Africa with extensions in East Asia and East Europe. The Extended regions of Islamic countries are rich in fossil fuel and surround the Key locations on Indian Ocean the third largest Ocean but central in international globalization. The Muslim countries have an international organization by the name of OIC. Pakistan was one of the founder countries of OIC along with Saudi Arabia and it let Pakistan to play a key role in solving the problems related to Muslim world through OIC.

Though OIC is a representative organization of Islamic world but it has failed to play its role in the international globalization. There are many factors but as in this paper we are discussing the role of geographical position in the globalization so we look to OIC in the view of geography. Geographically Muslim world is composed of nations in central Asia and Eurasia dominantly of Turkish origin. South Asia and South China sea nations dominantly of Indian and Indo Asian Origin, Middle East and North Africa dominantly of Arab origin, and beside there are other notable nations like Iranian and African origin nations of Africa. The key players in Islamic world were always, Arabs, Turks and Iranian. A fourth is added and that is people of Indian and Indo Asian origin. As the Turkish people were contained by Russian and British empires in the previous century so the balance of power in Islamic world was imbalanced. The oil boom in Gulf widened this imbalance of power. As Arabs societies were more conservative and rigid than Turkish societies hence the dominance of Arab over matters of Islamic world resulted in spread of extremism in Islamic world. Pakistani culture was developed and its social structures were deeply influenced under long Turko-Mongol rule so the Pakistani were more inclined to Turkish people and were moderate in nature. But the imbalance of power let Arabs influence Pakistani society and result to spread of extremism.

Pakistani government can play a key role to moderate in Islamic world to rebalance the powers of Islamic world and hence help both Islamic world as well as itself. By inclusion of Turkish people back in Islamic world the extremism in Muslim world will decline as People of Central Asia and Eurasia are progressive Muslims and they along with Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Bangladesh and Pakistan can help Arab societies to pave towards democracy and liberate their people to become benefited from oil boom as well as strengthen Islamic world by popular participation in every aspects of Islamic world. A small comparison of Pakistan with other Islamic countries make clear both challenges it faces as well as opportunities that Pakistan has to play through OIC.

Until now we have focused on the role of Pakistan as a sole Nuclear power Muslim country as mightiest in Military power and stress on the size of our large population as Pakistan is the second largest populous country in Islamic world after Indonesia but it is not only military power that determine the role but the economy and technology to project that might is also necessary. As in start of new Millennium we have focused on research and higher education so here we focus on the comparing Pakistan and other Islamic countries in the related fields.

Areas which Pakistan face challenges:

a- Pakistan has 101 to 300 researchers per million people which is far below than Turkey, Tunisia, Azerbaijan and Lebanon’s 1001 or more researchers per million people and Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Brunei’s 501 to 1000 researchers per million people.

b- The share of Pakistani women in total research is 25% compared to Azerbaijan’s 52% and Tunisia’s 45%.

c- Pakistan spend less than 0.5% of total GDP on Research and related issues compared to Tunisia spending 1% and Turkey, Morocco, Malaysia and Iran spending more than 0.5% of GDP on research and development.

d- Pakistan’s high technology export is between 100 to 1000 million US $ which is far below than 5ooo million US $ and More of Malaysia and Indonesia.

i- Malaysia export high tech items worth 63.4 billion US $ which is about 87% high tech exports of all Islamic countries.

ii- Malaysia and Indonesia’s high tech exports comprise 95% of all Islamic countries high tech exports.

Still there are two areas that Pakistan is leading in Islamic world.

a- Pakistan lead in articles published in international journals along with Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Brunei and Malaysia with 200 and more.

b- Pakistan is third in patent activity after Malaysia’s 4800 and Indonesia’s 4606. 1800 Pakistanis apply for patent but almost all of them are non residents.

3)Arc of rising powers (China, India and Iran)

Robert Rowthorn, the economic faculty of Cambridge University starts his paper, THE RENAISSANCE OF CHINA AND INDIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ADVANCED ECONOMIES, this way “Using simple convergence equations, this paper projects that by mid-century per capita incomes in China and India will on average be about half the US level. In terms of total production, both countries should overtake the USA by 2050.

We may not agree with Robert Rowthorn’s predictions as the variations like the current global economic crisis make the predictions erroneous but one thing is clear that no one can deny the rapid growths that China and India made. The rapid growth of China and India like all other major economies will affect the neighboring countries. The economic growth increases the demand for fossil fuel which will increase the role of countries like Pakistan which is going to be the highways for energy transfers. Similarly by raising standards of lives in these countries the textile industry of Pakistan will be in great demand more from China, Iran and Gulf countries than India.

4)Arc of Skills and trade dislocations

Just what happened in West is going to happen to East. By raising the standards of living the pays for workers also raised so the companies searched for cheap laborers which found their places in East Asian countries. Cheap skilled labor attracted investments, businesses and transfer of technology. As the pays in China and other Eastern countries are raising the businesses will be forced to shift their businesses further east, especially Pakistan as it has the largest skilled cheap labors in the regions after India. The dislocations of skills, knowledge, investments, technology and businesses will shape the face of the Pakistani society. The greatest obstacle that caused that we fail to get our shares of these dislocations is weak governance especially law and order and political instability. By developing smart governance we can attract a big share of business and investment dislocations.\

b- Challenges

Seven key challenges of globalization in Pakistan are governance, energy and resources, Infrastructure, equity and meritocracy, security and terrorism, ecology and discontinuity of policies. More serious challenges that threaten our very survival are nuclear war, political instability and terrorism.

1- Arc of Nuclear conflicts

The struggle of Russia and China to modernize their nuclear weapons and missile systems as well as struggling of India and Pakistan to weaponize their nuclear capabilities is pushing the region to threats of nuclear war. The bitter experiences of Iraq-Iran war as well as bitter relations of US and Israel with Iran are leading Iran towards getting nuclear capability. This is extending the nuclear arc to Middle East. In turn Arabic countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan who are fearful of Persian dominance in Middle East are also struggling to get nuclear capability. This is showing an era of nuclear race which are intensifying by US insistence on deployment of missile defense shield which are providing reasons for an arm race in region. The worsening point is deteriorating relations of India and Pakistan who have already fought conventional wars and their attitudes are unpredictable. This bitter relation is a constant threat to both countries.

2- Arc of crisis and political instability

The arc of crisis is stretched from Burma in the East, Including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to Central Asia, including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Middle East including Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Israel to North Africa, including Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, etc. Pakistan being neighbors, linker and member of regional organizations like OIC and SARRC is directly get effects of this regional political instability. These political instabilities are the greatest obstacle in the proper functioning of the OIC and SARRC which are affecting the trade, social and economical developments of the region.

3- Arc of terrorism

Being bordered with Afghanistan as well as having a border that divide the tribal people into two countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan made Pakistan vulnerable to any kind of change and developments in Afghanistan. Soviet Union invasion, Civil war, Taliban and US invasion of Afghanistan all have played roles in militarization of people living in the shared tribal regions as well as attracting terrorist from Central Asia, Middle East, North Africa and East Asia. Terrorism is spreading as the connectivity and the experience and capability of the terrorists are increasing. Terrorism is not only damaged the image of Pakistan but it is growing to threat the stability of Pakistan.

As Arc of terrorism Nuclear Weapons, political conflicts and instability as well as terrorism are regional problems and threat to whole region so the regional organizations like OIC, SARRC and ASEAN are needed to be empowered, cooperate and integrate with each other to solve and tackle these problems.

References

1- Shi Hongtao, “China’s ‘Malacca Straits,’” Qingnian Bao, June 15, 2004, Foreign Broadcast Information Service (hereafter FBIS), FBIS-CPP20040615000042

2- Lee Jae-Hyung, “China’s Expanding Maritime Ambitions in the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean,” Contemporary Southeast Asia 24, no. 3 (December 2002): 553-554.

3- Freeman R (2005b). China, India and the doubling of the global labor force. http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=8167§ionID=1.

4- Needham J (1954). Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 1. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.OECD (2005). Economic Survey of China.

5- UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Data Centre.

6- WIPO, Statistics on Patents.

7- World Bank, World Development Indicators, Online Database.

8- ISI Web of Knowledge, Online Database.

9- Nye, Joseph S. Jr. "The U.S. Can Reclaim 'Smart Power'." Los Angeles Times (January 21, 2009).

Open sourcing as 99%'s technologies

To me 99% is not just an economic movement but a global individualistic movement that have been inspired by power of internet. There are growing awareness and agitation against monopoly of corporations over creation and distribution of wealth and technology and inspired by spirit of internet, open sourcing are becoming as a means for global resistance. Rationally speaking, corporations are responsible for availability of technologies and world need them for bringing newer ones but at the same time, their unchecked monopoly are creating new classes in society. To check their monopoly and keep the individuals' information integrity and freedom, open sourcing is the technology of 99%.

As technology stands at the core of both creation and distribution so people try to come up with innovative ideas. If Wikipedia and Wikileaks are efforts to liberate information, the bitcoin (I am not sure about its credibility yet so I am just curious how next generation digital peer to peer exchange technologies will evolve; Just for sake of information I have provided a video at the end of this knol). The experiments of the alternative and decentralized currencies have not been successful yet because of their limited usage yet they provide space for thinking out of the box. Besides who knows if a peer-peer technology emerges that totally change our concept of currency or wealth. Seems very idealistic but as Sherlock Holmes (character) says, "I suspect nothing and I suspect all" so we can appreciate these ideas by considering who knows....

Reprap printer, again an open source technology for designing and manufacturing plastic goods are another effort to make people manufacture things and lessen their dependencies. I am not sure how future technologies will help in liberating individuals but meantime this device is a must have for schools where students want to nourish their creativity and put their innovative ideas in practice... (I would appreciate if you share more open source technologies with us)

RepRap from Adrian Bowyer on Vimeo.

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Can I.Q level become a measure of governance?

I.Q level is used as measure of intelligence. Though there are many disagreements on its credibility but still it is a measure of use of intelligence. Especially when we apply it to a group of people we can link it to certain issues. For example it could be a measure of progress of people as progress means more reliance on brain than body. We know the technologies are replacing physical works but at the same time the amount of mental works increased. As much reliance on technologies are increasing so the reliance on mental works are also increasing. Reliance on mental works is evolving brain. As I.Q is a type of mental measurement so it could be an indication of level of progress but here is another problem and that is spread of technology. As technologies are marketed massively into markets around the world with great diversities so these technologies are included in lives of people massively. This is also a factor in reliance on mental works. So it makes the position of I.Q as a weak measure of governance. Besides, weak governance make people on their own so people struggle harder in weak governments than strong governments, so here it is another factor that make position of I.Q weaker. As we saw there are many variables to I.Q which can affect the application of it in governance. However, one aspect that dominantly affects the I.Q level is education. Besides, it is not only education which affect I.Q level but educational standards that affect most. Hence the I.Q level dominantly could measure governance even in presence of variables like presence of technologies and struggles of people.

It is not only problem of technologies and educational services but certain other factors also which questions the application of I.Q levels. We know that I.Q has been used for political purposes especially in racist politics. I.Q has been used to prove the supremacy of a race over other. We know that a depressed person can’t use all potentials of his mind to a confident man. Similarly an oppressed group of people lose confidence to oppressors, so here oppressors can use the measurements like I.Q to legitimize their acts. When it comes to politics the science and scientific data are used to take favor of a public opinion. So, question arises, whether intelligence is a genetic adaptation or is the effects of environments. If it is genetically adopted then it is natural that genetically related groups, e.g., a race would remain backward. In this case progression is a natural act and these races couldn’t be helped. On contrary, if intelligence is the effects of environment then it is environment of people that caused them to be backward. We can help these people by changing their environment.

When we come to comparative studies, then the brain sizes is a very clear evidence of the intelligence. We know that reptiles are less intelligent than mammals and mammals are less intelligent than Homo sapiens. Certainly, brain sizes are correlated with intelligence in reptiles, mammals and Homo sapiens. Brain sizes are increasing respectively so are intelligences. As in case of Homo sapiens there are slight differences in brain sizes like brain size differences between men and women but the environment has greater influences as we have seen more intelligent women than men whose had better environments of educations and cultural learning. Black African Americans are socially and economically backward than white American, so the I.Q was used to correlate their backwardness with their low levels of intelligence. Anyone familiar with history of USA can easily correlate backwardness of Black African American to socially unjust treatments that had. They were brought to America as slaves so they were no educated and given rights to progress. Still when the slavery abolished from USA, again they were not given the rights to vote and they were treated as second citizen. It was the civil movements of 60’s that changed the course of lives of Black African American. Now in 2009, the world is evident of a Black as a president of USA. The history of Black African American is a clear evidence of effects of environment on intelligence beside slight genetic differences in humankind.

Until now, we are in position to conclude following results about intelligence:

1- Brain sizes are correlated with intelligence as it is evident in differences between brain sizes of reptiles, mammals and Homo sapiens. There are very small differences in brain sizes of human like difference between brain sizes of men and women.

2- Intelligence is an act of environment. Society can affect the intelligence of a group as it is evidenced from history of Black African American.

3- Intelligence could be learned as it is evidenced from rate of neuron connections to levels of use of brain areas. Certainly a geologist is more intelligent than others in identifications of rocks and minerals as he has practiced identification of rocks and minerals so his brain areas related in identification of rocks or minerals. May be this example confuse some individuals so we give a clearer example. Take example of an artist or a graphic designer. He is more intelligent than common men related to colors. They are more conscious about colors and shades of colors. Their brain areas related to identification of colors are like other people but with more neuron connections. The use of particular areas of brain increases the neuron connectivity and hence those areas of brain process the information more rapidly and hence one becomes more intelligent in those areas.

From these three first hand conclusions we can make a second hand of three conclusions as follows:

Intelligence is a function of:

a- Genetic adaptations

b- Social adaptations

c- Individual adaptations

As there is very less differences in genetics adaptations of men so the main reasons for the differences of intelligence in humankind is social adaptations and individual adaptations. Can government help its citizens in developing their intelligence? The answer is a clear YES. Before World War II the Japanese had 10 points less I.Q levels than white USA citizens. After the World War II the I.Q levels of Japanese rose 10 points higher than USA citizen. Certainly in this short time the genes can’t be evolved. Genetic evolution requires very long times in terms of human lives. What was the reason of rising of Japanese I.Q? With no doubt, the social reforms in Japan caused educational, technological and economical progress which raised the intelligence levels of Japanese. We can track back the intelligence levels into medieval ages and ancient times also. We can find particular ages in history of nations when they produced great men but later as their civilizations fall there no significant great men. The most noticeable example is that of ancient Greece. In golden times of ancient Greece, when there was real democracy in Athens, great philosophers and mathematicians born this shaped the human knowledge. But after fall of Greece to Romans the Greece failed to produce noticeable philosopher or mathematician till present times.

Conclusion: From our brief discussion, now it is evident there the I.Q could become the measure of governance. By introducing a standard educational system and providing equal but competitive opportunities the I.Q levels of people will raise. Better governance makes people able to focus on progressive works and hence people will use the education they got to become an active part of progression.

Judging Culture

Calculated Discipline's Epistemology (Part: 3)

Culture is collective judgments of a group of people over a large time. A group of people which creates a society is comparable to an organism which adopts certain factors by accepting or rejecting certain factors. These acceptances and rejections are based on collective judgments. What are collective judgments? Collective judgments are composed of three basic judgments which we have discussed in part 1 and 2 of the calculated discipline’s epistemology are as follows,

a- Practical judgments (Everyday life judgments). In everyday life our sensations though receiving data from environment but send selective information to brain to make life easier.
b- Artistic judgments (The judgments of appearances). It is detailed observation, especially to creative composition of objects related to concepts and ideas. Here colors, shades, timing and perspectives are important.
c- Aided judgments or instrumental judgments. The scientific judgments or use of instruments like microscopes, mass spectrometry etc for judgments of objects beyond our senses.

Studying societies through collective judgments provides us great insights in understanding the society in their very nature. Following are some points which make it more elaborate,

1- It provides us a tool to analyze evolution of a culture as we can logically and historically deduce that,

i) Practical judgment was first to evolve and it must influenced dominantly, the beginning cultures.

ii) Artistic judgments were second and it influenced the practical judgments by being more impressive and unique.

It was artistic judgments that put the foundations of real civilizations. Artistic judgments evolved from artistic observations to artistic compositions which had great economical, social, political military, philosophical and scientific impacts over societies. The effect of arts and art crafts are well documented and well researched. The human history is divided as Stone Age (Due to developments and use of stone instruments), Bronze Age, and Iron Age etc. These words are showing importance of tool making or art crafts which are results of developments of artistic judgments. The search for cultivable grains, extractable minerals and their use in different products requires artistic observations into earth, water, air, life and their cycles. The products that were results of artistic observations enabled ancient people to create empires that are mostly quoted in studying history.

iii) Aided Observation lead to scientific revolution that crossed the cultural boundaries and created a global culture. Aided judgments provided a base for all cultures to become more harmonized. The most quoted shift of cultures to more harmonized beliefs with the aid of aided judgments is shift from earth centric to sun centric views then from soul centric to biological centric shifts. Evolution of subatomic particles, elements, compounds, organism and simply cosmic evolution have made clear position of men in universe and in earth which have harmonized and brought closer the cultures to more global and humanist culture which still to have a long way to go to become a true humanist culture but are at least on the way.

2- Collective judgments create world views. It is the most wanted piece of information in analyzing and defining culture. Once we know what the source of world view is then it becomes easy to define and analyze cultures. World view not only steer the opinions and behaviors of individuals but also the progress and evolution of cultures. From perspective of world view we can go back to origin and evolution of cultures.

i) Collective judgments help us appreciate the differences as natural phenomenon and make intercultural dialogues with clear understanding and accepting of differences.

ii) It helps us to set up an educational system that nurture the minds of generations based on futuristic needs. A student attached to his society nourishes both his creative/emotional/artistic judgments and scientific judgments.

iii) It helps educators to divide their focus based on developmental stages while planning and deciding about educational programs and policies.

a- Early stages: Development of practical judgments by focusing on sensual and cultural education

b- Artistic judgments: Development of creative judgments by focusing on arts education

c- Scientific judgment: Development of rationality and critical thinking by focusing on scientific and philosophical education

3- It provides a tool for psychoanalyze a personality based on his biography based on his exposures to collective judgments. When we compare and analyze the composition of collective judgments of a culture or a society we focus on ratio of richness of its judgments or in other words we focus on composition of judgments. We can a personality’s works based on his reactions on the times he has been exposed to the collective judgments. The influence of the collective judgments in a time is key to judge the developments of his works.

4- Composition of collective judgments tells us about levels of organization in a society. Organizations and institutions define and shape the composition of the collective judgments. Certainly, lack of artistic and scientific organizations and institutions result in lacking of artistic and scientific judgments. The lack of artistic and scientific organizations also shows lack of social organizations. It is the loose and weak social organizations which fail to or feel fewer needs for setting of organizations to develop artistic and scientific judgments. Strong judgments, lead to higher levels of social organizations and artistic and scientific organizations.

5- We have seen the divisions of cultures into higher or lower levels of culture, natural or synthetic cultures and cultures attached a class group of society. Usually this division is done on levels of refinements of the judgments. Refinement of judgments is especially important in artistic judgments as artistic judgments are unique and individualistic. The uniqueness of artistic judgments is more elaborated by symbolic expressions. The symbolic expressions of artistic judgments are more powerful than world views. Most of the times it is symbolic expressions of the same ideas within people of common beliefs or common language that distinct them and their culture.

6- Composition of collective judgments also indicates the economic conditions of that culture at that time. Economically improved cultures have richer expressions of artistic and aided judgments. Though pure arts express world views but art crafts tell us the important tools of economy and economic conditions.

7- Collective judgments are composed of three basic elements of judgments. Though the compositions of judgments differ from culture to culture but as the elements are same so they make common humanist judgments also. We can find geographical and historical factors that influence distinctness and uniqueness of compositions in each culture.

8- Culture is becoming very important in modern societies. The reason for increasing importance is era of information and more competitiveness of businesses and financial activities. The judgments are very important in progressing as well as sustaining the progress of societies. Societies are struggling to develop the levels and diversities of skills, knowledge and imaginations. Societies with weak levels of organizations suffered from emigrations of their skills, knowledge and imaginations in a process known as brain drain to societies where higher levels of social organizations promised more sustainable progress. It is not only the underdeveloped or developing countries which suffered but some mistakes of developed countries also causing shifts of technologies and investments. The cheap skillful and knowledgeable work forces as well as cheap commodities, accommodations and lower taxes made some businesses to shift their businesses to other countries like China, Taiwan, Malaysia, etc. The modern world is evidence of importance of role of judgments and its composition in lives of people and in shape of societies. In modern world only those cultures will lead the world which generate and attract individuals and organizations with best judgments. Brain drain and business dislocations will shape the faces and identities of cultures and societies...

(NOTE; This knols was part of my series of efforts during 2004-2008 to build a Philosophical system which I left incomplete for a better time to return...)

Some recent approaches in Recirculation aquaculture system to sustain water quality and increase food production

Introduction:

In recent decades several factors have changed the practices of aquaculture drastically to change it from small scale homestead activities to large scale commercial farming. The decrease in consumption of meat and egg and increase in consumption of fish and legume per capita from one side and increased regulatory pressure focusing on the discharge to natural water bodies are forcing aquaculture industry for more innovative approaches. One of the growing fields in aquaculture both in terms of research and commercial activities is Recirculatory Aquaculture System (RAS). But there are big challenges that RAS is facing like, limitations in quality and quantity of water, availability and cost of land and limitations on water discharge and natural environmental impacts. Besides these another major challenge for RAS is increasing costs of energy for heating and pumping.

This paper will present an overview of some basic research areas like manipulation of species adapted to cold water like arctic char, mutualism of which with phytoplankton like Tilapia and Chlorella and the challenges that RAS is facing in internal treatments of contaminants. RAS is using the knowledge of ecosystems in internal treatments of contaminants by manipulating nitrifying bacteria to make RAS a sustainable aquaculture practice by increasing in production but with lesser costs and more environmental friendlier practices.

Table of Contents

1. Recirculatory Aquaculture System (RAS)
2. Arctic char
3. Manipulating mutualism between West African Tilapia and Chlorella in warm water RAS
4. Biological filters
5. References

1. Recirculatory Aquaculture System (RAS):

RAS is a set of approaching in fish farming which use a closed-loop system that retain, treat and reuse the water. The main objective is to preserve the water the water quality and minimize the nutrient pollutants. RAS is mainly composed of a growing tank, Tank of particulate removal device, biofilter, oxygen injection with U-tube aeration and water circulating pump. The water start flowing from growing tank and after passing treatment components return back to the growing tank and due to this circulation of water this closed-loop, it is called Recirculatory Aquaculture System. To get more from this system some RAS, grow herbs and vegetables in nutrient rich water. Vegetables uptake of nutrients from water not only helps in their rapid growth but also in filtration of water. This practice is called aquaponics as contrasting to hydroponics.

Image Source:

http://www.christoutreachministrieshonduras.org/images/2005ViewsAquaponics.jpg

2. Arctic char:

The natural home of Arctic char is Scandinavian countries and it is fished in Siberia, Iceland, Greenland, Norway and northern Canada. In northern countries listed above the wild char is fished and there are also extensive aquacultures of char in these countries. Arctic char is well known for its adaptation of cold water and it is the only fish species in the Lake Hazen that is commonly thought of as the Northern most Lake of Canada, though smaller lakes are present further north. The Arctic Char live both in fresh water and sea water. Based on living habitats, Arctic Char is of two basic types. First type lives in fresh water in winter and migrates to sea in summer to feed. The second types is live totally in fresh water and do not migrate. Arctic Char store food during summer feeding and use these stored fat by feeding very less during winter.

The farming of Arctic Char is dominated the fresh water production of fish in Nordic countries. There are several factors that make char a preferred fish in cold water regions. Char is considered as the most cold adapted species within Salmonid family (Johnson, 1980). Char have excellent fillet yield, tolerate high density culture conditions, amenable to niche marketing and are suitable for production within super-intensive Recirculatory system (Jobling, 1987, Johnston, 2002, Summerfelt et al., 2004 a, b.)

Despite the mentioned characteristics of char, the seasonal changes in growth rates of char are a real concern in farming of char. In autumn the growth rate of wild char drops (It is known as autumn depression), so it is a problem for those char farmers who catch wild char and farm them to marketable sizes. In contrast to wild char, hatchery-produced char didn’t show seasonal changes in their growth rates.

To test this observation Sten and his colleagues in Nofima (The Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research) has compared the growth performance of wild and hatchery-produced char in a commercial coldwater recirculation system (Villmarksfisk, Bardu, 688N, 198E, Norway). They reared both hatchery-produced char and wild char for 240 days by measuring length and weight of sampled fishes at intervals of 0, 40, 90, 150, 200 and 240 days. The hatchery-produced fishes were taken from Sjoblink Blokken hatchery facility and Wild char is caught from Lake Altevan in Bardu. The initial body mass of char fishes were 115 gram. Two weeks before start of experiments 240 char comprising of 120 wild char and 120 hatchery-produced char were anesthetized and tagged. Similarly, Wild char is weaned to dry feed during two weeks prior to experiments by adding 10% cod roe at day first and gradually reducing to zero at the day 14. The tagged fishes were then randomly distributed among four 2000 L fiberglass tanks, two tanks per group each holding 60 tagged and 240 untagged fish. All the fish were reared under identical condition at a mean temperature of 9.2 8C and on continuous light (150 lx).

The results indicated that there was no much difference till day 40 between wild and hatchery produced char but at day of 90, there was sharp difference between wild and hatchery produced char. The difference between growth rates continues till end of experiments at day 240, in which hatchery produced char gained a weight of 451 as compared to 231 g of wild char. Besides the growth differences the mortality rates are also showed significant differences. The mortality rate in hatchery produced char was 4% as compared to 42% of that of wild char. The result of the this study by Sten clearly show that the superiority of hatchery produced char as compared to wild char both in terms of weight gains and less mortality. Hatchery-produced char would certainly a better choice for cold water RAS.

3. Manipulating mutualism between West African Tilapia and Chlorella in warm water RAS;

Following carp, Tilapia is the second as most important farmed fish in the world. Tilapia is an omnivore, with high growth rate, high resistant to diseases, tolerant to low oxygen levels, live in diverse range of salinities and could be cultured in different density levels. These characteristics along its palatability make it a fish of choice for fish farming. Tilapia is a common name used for many cichlid species of three genera, Oreochromis, Sarotherodon, and Tilapia (Watanabe et al. 2002). Tilapia live mostly in fresh water but due to its tolerance for diverse salinity it shows a diverse range of habitats like, stream, rivers, ponds, lakes and estuaries. Two disadvantage of Tilapia are warm water habitat and self-reproducing populations. As Tilapia can’t survive in cold waters below 16 degree Celsius so it is a limiting factor for its farming in temperate areas. Tilapia’s juveniles matures at six months but spawning occurs year-around. Males grow faster and larger in sizes as females use energy for reproduction and mature earlier. Due year-round spawning and high tolerance they become invasive species in warm waters.

Although Tilapia is an omnivore fish and can adapt to any food available but it mainly feed on the phytoplankton and benthic alga. In closed fish farming like RAS the removal of ammonia excreted by fish is a challenge. On other hand availability of CO2 in Chlorella algae is limiting factor for it. Phytoplankton based RAS is one of the current eco-technological solution. In such a RAS, Tilapia fish could be benefited by feeding on Chlorella as well as by removal of ammonia and oxygenation of water by their photosynthesis. Similarly, Chlorella could be benefited from Co2 produced by Tilapia’s respiration as well as cleaning its environments by their filter feeding habits.

To analyze the practical advantage this mutualism in warm water RAS, Sylvain Gilles and his colleagues at IRD, Senegal, conducted an experiment. The experiment duration was 24 hours, in which 36 tubs filled with filtered water (to remove rotifers) from a phytoplankton pond is used. The tubs were arranged in two rows in a greenhouse to avoid dilution and contamination by rainwater and other falling particles.

Fishless Unfed Fishes Fed Fishes
A graphical presentation of the arrangements of tubs and treatments of the tubs with fish and Chlorella

A 3-level trilapia treatment (C, fishless control: F, Unfed fish and Ff, Fed fish) with four-level Chlorella treatment (With 10%, 50%, 80% and 100% of routine algal density in the prototype “phytoplankton RAS or recycle pond”) was conducted. To achieve initial Chlorella density, prototype water (Salinity 15 g/L, 100% algal density = 33 x 10 6 cells mL -1 ) was mixed with a water from a well dug 30 m from ocean shoreline (Same salinity but no phytoplankton).
The 24 female tilapia which were starved for 24 hours, prior to start of experiment were distributed in 24 of 36 tubs. Only fed fish got a single 2 gram ration in pellets of 1.5 mm. The phytoplankton were sampled successively just in half hour of start of experiment (8:30), in 2 hours (10:00), in 6 hours (14:00), in 12 hours (20:00) and in 24 hours (8:00, next morning). The samples collected in first half an hour of were experiment was taken as a mean density of chlorella. Samples were collected at mid depth with 30-mL container and phytoplankton immediately fixed by adding a 3 drops of 4% of formaldehyde.

Chlorella concentrations were determined by colorimetry with a Hanna C203 photometer and counts were performed using a Burker cell under an OLYMPUS CX41 stereomicroscope (40X magnification).
The result of experiment showed that the density of Chlorella decreased in fishless tubs at lowest and highest initial Chlorella densities respectively. Compared to fishless tubs, the tubs with unfed fish shown an increase in Chlorella density. Similarly, fed fish tubs showed more increase in density than unfed fish tubs. Beside an increase in algal density from fishless to unfed fish and fed fish tubs, the initial density of Chlorella is also affected the resulting Chlorella. Higher initial densities resulted in higher Algal densities. Researchers in this experiment concluded that this mutualism between Tilapia not only can be manipulated in mass production in photosynthetic suspended-growth systems but can also be used for treatment of wastewater.

4. Biological filters:

The wastes in effluent are a major problem in aquaculture. Wu for example estimated that 85% of phosphorus, 80-88% carbon and 52 -95% of nitrogen of mass feed will end up as particulate matter, dissolved chemicals and gases (Wu, 1995). On other hand RAS technology can reduce the effluent waste stream by a factor of 500-1000 (Chen et al., 1997: Timmons et al., 2001). RAS technologies use biofilters to treat internally the dissolved ammonia and other dissolved organics and greatly reduces the amount of water use as well as discharge from aquaculture operations.

Biofilters are mediums for bacteria to colonize and remove unwanted dissolved gases and organic content. Biofilters are for different purposes like improve air quality, improving water quality and waste water managements. In aquaculture biofilters are used to convert ammonia to nitrites and nitrite into nitrate and oxidize organic matter. For this purpose the bacteria medium requires oxygen to continue nitrification process. In RAS, there are two types of biofilters are used. Fixed biofilms, in which bacteria is provided a fixed substrate to colonize and grow. In contrast, there are also suspensions biofilters in which bacteria is maintained suspended.
Although RAS is an environmental friendly technology but its operational costs are higher than pond or flow through systems so currently it is more feasible for higher priced fishes like fingerlings and bloodstock. Increasing efficiency of biofilters is key in making them more cost competitive. Maria Teresa Gutierrez-Wing and Ronald F. Malone have summarized a few suggestions in their paper that is based partially on ideas come of the discussions that took place at Workshop Design and Selection of Biological Filters for Freshwater and Marine Applications held in Honolulu, Hawaii on 8-11 November 2004, hosted by Oceanic Institute’s Aquaculture Interchange Program under leadership of Dr. Cheng-Sheng Lee. Notable suggestions by authors are listed as,
Though suspended growth systems is less favored to fixed film systems due to poor water quality however to meet economic expectations force the aquaculture community to revalidate the suspended biofilters especially for hardy species or fishes with high levels of tolerance for contaminations and low oxygen levels. Waste water managements have developed more efficient biofilters like MBBR (Moving bed biofilm reactors) and BAF (Biological aerated filters). These biofilters have started to be introduced into RAS and it is needed that the introductions of these new biofilters should be compared and evaluated with currently used biofilters and in RAS. Two factors of marine species make them attractive for RAS. The first is the high demand for reliable supply of marine species as sea bass, sea bream, flatfish and cobia (Schwarz et al., 2004) and their higher market prices make them an attractive niche for RAS. The second is the demand of marine larval systems for ultraoligotrophic category of water (maximum oligotrophic category for fresh water and fingerlings are set 0.3 mg N/L and marine larval systems requires TAN concentration below 0.1 mg/L) and sensitivity to feed sizes in different stages of developments. For example, larvae of the shrimp have three distinctive stages of growth, nauplius, zoea and mysis and each of them requiring different feeding regimes and very high quality water, as they are very sensitive to suspended solids, and bacterial infections.

References

1- Atanabe, W. O., T. M. Losordo, K. Fitzsimmons, and F. Hanley. 2002. Tilapia production systems in the Americas: Technological advances, trends, and challenges. Reviews in Fisheries Science 10:465-498.

2- Alon Singer, Shmuel Parnes, Amit Gross, Amir Sagi, Asher Brenner, A novel approach to denitrification processes in a zero-discharge recirculating system for small-scale urban aquaculture, Pages 72-77
3- FAO. © 2003-2009. Fisheries Topics: Technology. Fisheries technology. In: FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Department [online]. Rome. Updated 2006 15 09. [Cited 20 October 2009]. http://www.fao.org/fishery/sofia/en
4- Hamlin, HJ; MichaelS, JT; Beaulaton, CM; Graham, WF; Dutt, W; Steinbach, P; Losordo, TM; Schrader, KK; Main, KL. Comparing denitrification rates and carbon sources in commercial scale upflow denitrification biological filters in aquaculture. Aquacultural Engineering. 2008; 38(2): 79-92.
5- Maria Teresa Gutierrez-Wing, Ronald F. Malone, Biological filters in aquaculture: Trends and research directions for freshwater and marine applications, Pages 163-171,
6- Nafsika Karakatsouli, Sofronios E. Papoutsoglou, Georgios Panopoulos, Eustratios S. Papoutsoglou, Stella Chadio, Dimitris Kalogiannis, Effects of light spectrum on growth and stress response of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss reared under recirculating system conditions, Pages 36-42
7- Steinar Skybakmoen, Sten Ivar Siikavuopio, Bjørn-Steinar Sæther, Coldwater RAS in an Arctic charr farm in Northern Norway, Pages 114-121,
8- Sten Ivar Siikavuopio, Steinar Skybakmoen, Bjørn-Steinar Sæther, Comparative growth study of wild- and hatchery-produced Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus L.) in a coldwater recirculation system, Pages 122-126,
9- Steven T. Summerfelt, Mark J. Sharrer, Scott M. Tsukuda, Michael Gearheart, Process requirements for achieving full-flow disinfection of recirculating water using ozonation and UV irradiation, Pages 17-27
10- Sylvain Gilles, Gérard Lacroix, Daniel Corbin, Ngansoumana Bâ, Carla Ibañez Luna, Jacob Nandjui, Allassane Ouattara, Ousséni Ouédraogo, Xavier Lazzaro, Mutualism between euryhaline tilapia Sarotherodon melanotheron heudelotii and Chlorella sp.—Implications for nano-algal production in warmwater phytoplankton-based recirculating systems, Pages 113-121,

Creating self to find self

Ice breaker speech (My first speech at Toastmasters Club)

Respected Toastmaster, ladies and gentleman good evening!

The Turks from Azerbaijan can’t pronounce the sound “K”. They pronounce “K” as “Ch”. For example they call Pakistan as Pachistan and this aspect of Azerbaijani Turks were a source of amusement for fifth graders. Our science teacher was an Azerbaijani Turk and students were listening carefully to him and were making fun of them after class by repeating his words. This Turkish teacher attracted me. Unlike my class fellows I didn’t attracted to his pronunciation but to his world perspective.

I was busy sketching that a voice made me come out of myself, “What are you creating Khudadad?” It was my Turkish teacher that was looking to my sketch for long but I didn’t notice him until he didn’t ask me. I was speechless at the moment but he liked my sketches. I was always hiding my sketches from my teachers because they were always either too abstract or they were just caricatures. The word, “creating” from my Turkish teacher, the same teacher who all making fun of him, had changed my perspective about myself.

I was no more an individual to fit in anything. I was always wanted to change everything by recreating them. I was always in hot debates with my friends on every subject. I remember a debate that we had on theory of relativity. We didn’t realize that our discussion is so loud that our it is disturbing the conversations of other people around us. A young student came to us and while putting both of his palms together requested us, “Sir! Please let theory of relativity live one more day. Don’t kill it today.” We laughed and ended our discussion. The closest among my likeminded friends was my youngest uncle. We were mining gypsum from near mountain to make clays for our models. We built a small furnace to melt down aluminum and plastic to create our models. We were making casts from different materials to pour into our molds. We were wandering around markets of spare parts and second hand tools for suitable parts into our designs. We were trying to recreate everything from clothing to buildings to sports to philosophy to whole society. We want to change everything and every potential idea was attracting us. We piled up large and diversified range of books on different topics from philosophy to rocket science. Certainly we liked and moved by personalities some of whom people don’t like great Khan Genghis Khan, Lenin, Mao, Socrates, Dr Iqbal, Mir Damad, Enrico Fermi, Robert Oppenheimer, Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Lincoln, Henry Ford, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin. We liked these personalities because they were revolutionary figures in their disciplines and areas irrespective of the results and impacts of their struggles.

As we were doing our experiments, reading and debating we realized that, it is not easy to recreate everything as we were thinking so I started to change my attention from sketching and making models to philosophy. Playing with ideas was relatively easy so I started to create my own philosophy and it was the dividing lines between me and my friends. I did not know as we were growing our interests were also diverging and more than that we were selecting different fields. I chose geology and my friends’ chemistry. I became Science teacher and then lecturer of Geology and again changed my subject to paleobiology. The result of this all struggle came up in form of a book and two more books that I will publish them in summer.

Ladies and gentle man!

There were a lot of individuals who influenced me in different manners but four men in human history influenced more than others. I am influenced by commitment of Socrates to truth, by commitment of Genghis Khan to his people, by commitment Einstein to imaginations and by commitment of Charles Darwin to nature. It is me Khudadad, Laugh please.......................

Testing Natural Selection

Natural selection is almost 150 years old now.... and this long life, in the age of massive scientific investigations...is enough for strength of a mechanism or a theory. Despite the strength of N.S, nothing is ultimate in Science and Scientists are always skeptic....., even of their own works. It is how Science works? ...On other hand we have witnessed that Science has taken the lead in using the "reasoning" in human life, from poor Philosophy (until we see the resurrection of Philosophy...by the urgent needs that are coming from misuse of technologies and messes that have human compiled in their societies)..... Though I am new in world of evolutionary studies but I was always skeptic about Natural Selection. Why scientists don't use Physical mechanisms, Chemical mechanisms and Biological mechanisms that are more specific and empirical rather than natural selection that seems more philosophical and hence a lot of interpretations of it could come and cause a lot of controversies and conflicts. It seems that natural selection is just an interpretation of events rather than facts (There is no unit of natural selection. Natural selection occurs at gene level (transposons), cell level (cancer cells), individual levels(prey-predator relationship), group levels (social organisms like ants and bees) and selection at taxonomic levels (extinctions of Dinosaurs, trilobites, etc). It is called multilevel selection).

Let's have a look on commonly practicing definition and approach to natural selection. Futuyma (Douglas J. Futuyma, "Evolution" 2nd Edition, page; 283 ) writes,
"Natural Selection can exist only if different classes of entities differ in one or more features, or traits, that affect fitness..."

Defines fitness as,

"The fitness- often called the reproductive success - of a biological entity is its average per capita rate of increase in numbers. When we speak of natural selection among genotypes or organisms, the components of fitness generally consists of (1) the probability of survival to the various reproductive ages, (2) the average of number of offspring (e.g., eggs, seeds) produced via female function, and (3) the average number of offspring produced via male function. "Reproductive success" has the same components, since survival is a prerequisite for reproduction"....Sexual selection....

His actual definition of natural selection, "...Any consistent difference in fitness among phenotypically different classes of biological entities..."

If you carefully read from existence of natural selection to fitness and then definition of natural selection, it is all about three biological phenomenon, existence of variation and the survival and reproductive successes of organisms............very visible and easily measurable component... That is plus side but the problems come when we measure these components they become independent the abiotic factors that rule them.....

Molles (Manuel C. Molles Jr. "Ecology; concepts and application" 4th Edition, page 255) provides some examples that how environmental fluctuation control birth rate ( reproductive success) and death rate (survival),

"Sizes of populations fluctuate in terrestrial, as well as aquatic, environments. Some of the most variable terrestrial populations are found on the Galapagos Islands. The sizes of populations on these islands vary a great deal because they are subject to exceptional environmental fluctuations. Much of this fluctuation is produced by a large-scale climatic systems commonly called El Nino. El Nino warms the waters around Galapagos Islands and brings higher than average rainfall once or twice each decade. This increased rainfall stimulate germination and growth of plants. These plants produce abundance of seeds upon which Galapagos finches depend for food. In response to increased seed production, the size of finch populations can increase several folds in 1 year. However, these same populations are also exposed to periodic droughts. During droughts, which can be severe, both plants and finch population decline dramatically. Again whether in sea or on land, populations are dynamic."...........

Studies of decline and explosion of populations over long period of times is main way to study variation in population. Otherwise, measuring variation is making abstract notions out of the context interactions of biotic and abiotic interactions.....

To test this hypothesis we compare Natural Selection with an another hypothetical mechanism "Escaping competition". According to this mechanism, organisms try to be energy efficient and they tend to conserve their energy for main characteristics of life, like reproduction, growth, movements and socializations etc. (We use abbreviations like NC for natural selection and EC for escaping competition).

1. Artificial Selection:

NC: Natural selection is a biological process that is stretched for billions of years so human don't have a chance to observe it. But still there is artificial selection that is provoiding a good analogy to understant the natural selection. Human have domesticated cattles, fishes, dogs, horses, birds and have produced generations of these animals with desired traits over thousands of years. If human can change the animals and produce animals with desirable traits what about natural selection that works for billions of years?

EC: Two aspects of artificial selections is very important to note. Human have domesticated organisms to get energy (food, fuel), use for transportation (save energy) and amusements (escape competition/relax). Secondly, human didn't developed these desirable traits by competitions among these organisms but by separating them or making them escape out of competition.

Food for thought: If artificial selection is an analogy to natural selection then why human is much concerned about invasive species. Let local species compete with invasive species and desirable traits develop. But we human disagree and make laws and strong monitory policies to prevent local species from invasive species. Invasive species destroy habitate, introduce new diseases and have more tolerance to factors that local species are intolerant.

2. Camouflage

NC: On the page 84, Chapter IV, of the "On the Origin Of Species" Darwin writes, " When we see leaf-eating insects green, and bark-feeders mottled grey: the alpine ptarmigan white in winter, the red grouse the color of heather, and the black grouse that of peaty earth, we must believe that these tints are of service to these birds and insects in preserving them from danger. "
Camouflage is not limited to the same color as of your environments to escape predation but any tactics that save from predation could be entitled under camouflage. A unique example that Carl Sagan used is Samurai crab (Heikegani), a crab native to Japan that has a face of Samurai on its carapace. According to Carl Sagan this adaptation is the result of natural selection. As fisher men didn't eat the Samurai crab so adaptations favored against those of crabs without Samurai face.

Image source:
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9836/genji20crab20faceqjprevzk6.jpg

EC: Organisms camouflage to escape competition. Competitions occur within species and camouflage is not to compete with each other but as Darwin says preserving them from danger. Escaping predation is a mechanism that evolution favors and this observation is consistent from Darwin, himself to our time.

3. Reproduction

NC: Organisms produce more offspring each generation that possibly could survive.
EC: From fishes which produce thousands of eggs in spawning season to lizards that lay tens of shell protected and to pouch mammals that give birth to a child and to human which also give birth children we see a decrease in mortality of offspring as organims become more evolved. In case of human in becomes more evident. In advanced countries there is less mortality rate in infants and fewer children per couple than backward countries where infant mortality is more with more children per couple. Hence evolution favors less offsprings.
NC:

External Link for further readings:
1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heikea

(This knol was part of my effort to rethink evolution and as is evident. not yet complete)