2014 – Yours truly, Yasmin

Algal Biofuels: Closer to Sustainability?

Originally published 16 December 2014 on IHS Engineering360.

To tackle concerns driven by carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, chemical majors are using bio-process engineering technologies to convert carbon sources into new energy forms.

Presently, organic materials like plants, agricultural waste, forest residues, microbes and other sources otherwise known as biomass are being transformed into useful biofuels such as methane or transportation fuels: ethanol and biodiesel to meet environmental sustainability goals. To encourage those efforts, the U.S. Department of Energy recently announced a $25 million fund for biofuel research with one target: to drive down the cost of algal-derived biofuels to below $5 per gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) over the next five years.

Biofuels are split into four generations based on their biomass source. The first generation is produced from food crops such as sugars and vegetable oils. The second one (also known as advanced biofuels) is generated from non-food crops like agricultural waste and lignocellulosic biomass.

Membrane Technology & Industrial Applications

Originally published 13 November 2014 on IHS Engineering360.

Membrane technology like pervaporation (PV) and membrane filtration has been getting a lot of attention in the industry because of its energy efficiency and ability to break azeotropic systems.

The principle behind this technology is simple: the membrane behaves like a fixed filter that will allow water to pass through, while it catches suspended solids and other materials. Membranes are manufactured in a variety of configurations, such as hollow fiber, spiral, and tubular shapes. Each configuration offers a different degree of separation depending on the membrane process and the mixture to be separated.

PV in particular has been the only membrane process largely utilized for chemical purification over the last few decades with application in three primary areas: organophilic separation, removal of organic compounds from a dilute solution like water and dehydration of aqueous mixtures.

Islamic Bioethics & the Unconventional Gift of Life

Originally published in the November 2014 issue of the Muslim Science.

The ability to have children has always been an important aspect of the lives of many. For Muslim Middle Easters and others as well, having children is highly desired, as parenthood is culturally mandatory. In that regards, many unconventional reproductive technologies are being explored to lessen the effects of infertility. Globally, one in six couples encounters an infertility problem at least once throughout their reproductive life span. Infertility in women is approximately nine percent for individuals aged 20 to 44[1].

Compared with the west, Muslim women have limited options as third party reproductive assistance is largely banned with only Iran and Lebanon utilizing such technology in the Muslim Middle East[2]. “It is important to bare in mind that none of these technologies existed at the time and all that can be done to legitimize them is to interpret what the religion would have said,” says Dr. Soraya Tremayne, Founding Director of the Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group (FRSG), Oxford University. “The Shia have made extensive use of ‘ijtihad’ and allowed all sorts of reproductive technologies, including stem cell research, sex selection etc all within the religious boundaries and through ijtihad.” Ijtihad is an Islamic legal term meaning independent reasoning.

Surrogacy
The main purpose of surrogacy is to achieve genetic motherhood via a surrogate who is willing to carry an embryo belonging to a sterile pair (the biological parents) to full term and deliver the infant to them upon birth[3]. To many Islamic scholars, the practice is also referred to as ‘hiring a womb’. Sheikh Kifah Mustapha, the Associate Director of Mosque Foundation believes surrogacy is forbidden in Islam: “It is not permissible to hire a womb (surrogacy) for it introduces a sperm of a man to a uterus of a woman that he is not married to, and God Says in the Holy Quran – Those who guard their private parts except from their spouses…Whosoever goes beyond that are indeed transgressors, 23:5”.

Read more at
Muslim Science, November 2014.

Understanding depression in Asia

Originally published 16 September 2014 on Nikkei Asian Review.

As humans, we tend to chase after the global notion of “success” while neglecting its true value, which isn’t fame, fortune or power but “emotional well-being.”

According to the World Health Organization’s first report on suicide prevention, released Sept. 4, 803,900 people died by suicide worldwide in 2012. Of them, 39.1% were in low- and middle-income countries in the WHO South-East Asia region, which includes India, Indonesia, Thailand and North Korea; 16.3% were in the WHO Western Pacific Region, which encompasses China, Vietnam and Mongolia. Including Japan, where some 30,000 people committed suicide that year, Asia made up about 60% of global cases.

Experts say this large share is due to suicide being relatively under-researched in Asian countries, with limited preventive measures in place compared with the West.

However, a recently published study featuring 547 participants with major depressive disorder from China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, sheds light on MDD and its link to suicide.

The study was conducted from 2008 to 2011 by a team from 13 institutions and members of the Mood Disorders Research: Asian and Australian Network. It included a survey focusing on how so-called melancholic features, hostility, and socio-demographic factors are associated with suicide risk in MDD patients.

Whale sharks found at Red Sea gathering spot

Originally published 26 August 2014 on Nature Middle East.

Juvenile whale sharks gravitate towards the central coast of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea near Al-Lith to a gathering point. Scientists hope this will help improve conservation efforts of the vulnerable fish.

The preferred site for juvenile whale sharks off the central coast of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea has been identified near the city of Al-Lith.

The whale shark, Rhincodon typus, is the largest fish in the world, growing up to 15 meters long. Scientists hope the discovery of this site will improve conservation efforts in the region after the International Union for Conservation of Nature classified whale sharks as “vulnerable” in 2000.

“In any conservation effort, it is important to protect juveniles long enough to ensure that they can reach a reproductive age or size,” says researcher Michael Berumen from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). “Whale sharks are inherently difficult to study because of their potential long-range movements, unknown breeding patterns, and the amount of time that they spend below the surface. Protecting mating grounds would be a critical step in improving conservation for the species.”