Keri Facer. Learning Future, Education, Technology and Social Change. Routledge Publications, 2011. 192 pages. US$ 44.95.

Learning Future, Education, Technology and Social Change by Keri Facer is an informative book drawing on over 10 years of research on digital technologies, social change and education. The writer makes a compelling argument for thinking differently about the future for which education might need to prepare. Packed with case studies from around the world, the book helps to bring into focus the risks and opportunities for societies and for schooling over the coming two decades. Most people recognise that current education systems are not meeting the needs of individuals and ‘society’ and several books have been written on the future of education. In this context, Keri Facer investigates the scenario of education, technology and social change over the coming two decades by considering nine assumptions about socio-technological change. These include that in next 20 years there would be significantly increased computing and communication at a distance will be taken for granted by the large majority of people. Moreover, working and living alongside sophisticated machines and networks will increasingly be taken for granted and biosciences will produce unpredictable breakthroughs and important new stories about us. Population is ageing globally and energy, mineral resources and climate warming will remain significant issues. And finally we will be facing radical national and global inequalities

Citizen Participation In Local Governance: A Case Study Of Health And Sanitation Sectors In Gujranwala, Pakistan

Contemporary development discourse confers a protuberant role to Citizen Participation (CP). To comply with this developmental demand, the Government of Pakistan introduced CP reforms and decentralization measures to use local governance system as a platform for localizing development and engaging local citizens. This thesis was designed to explore the level of Citizen Participation in the local governance system of Pakistan. The study explored both the subjective factors that include the role of stakeholders (local administrators, local political representatives, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens) and objective factors such as legal and administrative basis of CP

Policy advisory systems and public policy making: Bibliometric analysis, knowledge mapping, operationalization, and future research agenda

This study offers a comprehensive overview of the literature on policy advisory systems (PAS), motivated by its significance, growing interest in the field among policy scholars, and the substantial body of recent research published recently. The study conducted a quantitative bibliometric analysis of 62 articles on PAS published between 1993 and 2022, using data extracted from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The analysis included performance analysis, collaboration analysis, and science mapping (co-citation and co-word analysis). The dataset comprises articles published in 29 different journals, with 17.2% of these journals publishing three or more articles on PAS. Of the 80 authors in the dataset, 78.8% had only one publication. Over the past 5 years, there has been a 69% increase in the production of research on PAS, with the majority of output coming from Canada, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands. The intellectual structure of the field was examined through co-citation analysis, revealing two main clusters named dynamics of PAS and Policy Advice & Policy Analysts' Role. The former focuses on the variations and dynamics of PAS, while the latter is more concerned with the nature of policy advice and the role of policy analysts. The co-word analysis identified the most relevant issues linked with PAS, including policy advice, externalization, politicization, and policy capacity. The study has also provided operationalization of the concept with the support of empirical evidence and categorized it into internal and external PAS. Externalization is the dominant trend in Anglophone countries, while public service in Europe and Canada has been the focus of internal PAS research. The study identifies gaps in the literature and calls for further research on the application of PAS in the Global South, the demand for policy advice, and comparative analysis of PAS across different contexts and dimensions

Penta Helix Model Communication to Promote Appropriate and Green Technologies for Ayung River Preservation Program in Bali

The Ayung River Preservation Program in Bali involves the community and stakeholders to address the degradation of the river. This research focuses on implementing the Penthealix communication model to promote green technology and involve stakeholders in preserving the Ayung River, which is the longest river on the island. The degradation of the river watershed highlights the critical state of the water supply in Bali. Existing data shows that the decrease in river flow rates along the watersheds in Bali has reached 60%, which has the potential to cause a water crisis on the island of Bali. Using the case study method, this research uses in-depth interviews and FGDs with local communities and other stakeholders. Secondary data was also collected from reports in newspapers. The results of the study show that efforts to preserve the Ayung River are implemented in the Green Technologies Program, which includes: 1) Biopori Holes and Infiltration weels; and 2) Community-based waste management. In its implementation, a Penta-Helix collaboration model was built between 1) The Government; 2) Communities; 3) businesses; 4) Academicians; and 5) the media. This program runs the Penta-Helix partnership model, which prioritizes Attribute, communication, and Conflict Resolution Technique efforts to achieve Partnership Commitment between stakeholders

INVESTIGATION OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY POTENTIAL USING ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY SURVEY AND CHEMICAL GEOTHERMOMETERS: A STUDY OF THE MANGHOPIR HOT SPRING KARACHI, SINDH PAKISTAN

Electrical resistivity survey and chemical geothermometers methods were used to find the geothermal gradient energy potential of the Manghopir hot spring which is located in Karachi, Sindh. Schlumberger electrode configurations were used to demarcate the two shallow potential subsurface aquifers. At various depths, three lithological units were encountered: alluvium, sandstone, and shale. The first thermal water aquifer lies below at the average depth of 10m and average thickness of 9 m lies in sandstone lithology of Nari Formation of Oligocene age. The second thermal water aquifer encountered at the average depth of 68 m and the average thickness of aquifer was 40.5m in sandstone lithology of Nari Formation. The surface water temperature was calculated with digital thermometer which shows the range in between 48 °C to 50 °C and subsurface temperature was calculated with the help of chemical geothermometers. The Na–K geothermometers indicate the subsurface equilibrium reservoir temperature in the range of 135.52 °C,125.54 °C, 172.964 °C and 184.08°C and the Na-K-Ca chemical geothermometers indicate the subsurface reservoir temperature 148.493°C. The Na-K-Ca geothermometers show a high temperature, but the reservoir temperature appears to be lower due to the mixing of sea water with the chemical composition of hot spring water within the subsurface aquifers

Porous concrete pavement containing nanosilica from black rice husk ash

Rice husk is a waste from the agricultural industry. It has been found that the main inorganic element in rice husk is silica. Rice husk ash (RHA) as a replacement material in the conventional concrete mixture has been widely studied around the world. However, there is a lack of documented research on nano production from RHA used as a replacement cement in porous concrete pavement mixtures. This study employed the top-down approach via dry grinding in a mechanical ball mill to generate a nano-black RHA (nano-BRHA). As a result, nano-BRHA was successfully generated with an optimum duration of 63 hours and median size of 66 nm. The results also indicated that the particle size of BRHA was significantly decreased with increasing grinding time. In addition, the morphology of the nano-BRHA changed with grinding duration. Finally, the use of nano-BRHA produced porous concrete pavement with good strength and permeability, and sound absorption

Cultural Psychology, Social Identity, and Community Engagement in World Heritage Conservation Sites

This research uses the case study of world heritage sites from South Asia and the Asian Pacific region. It aims to explore how macro cultural psychology, social identity, and community engagement influence the conservation of world heritage sites. The data for this paper was collected from three Asian countries namely Indonesia, Pakistan, and Malaysia. FGDs and In-depth interviews from all the stakeholders were conducted, also, data analysis were made. The paper found that in all three countries heritage site remnants are used to create social identity, making macro psychology and engaging communitiesEsta investigación utiliza el estudio de caso de sitios patrimonio mundial del Sur de Asia y de la región del Asia Pacifico. Tiene como objetivo explorar cómo la psicología macrocultural, la identidad social y el compromiso de la comunidad influyen en la conservación de los sitios patrimonio mundial. Los datos para este documento se obtuvieron de tres países asiáticos, a saber, Indonesia, Pakistán y Malasia. Se realizaron grupos focales y entrevistas en profundidad a todos los interesados, ademas, se llevó a cabo un análisis temático de datos. El documento encontró que en estos tres países las ruinas de sitios patrimoniales, se utilizan para crear identidad social, macro psicología e involucrar a las comunidades