KU B.A (Pass)B.Sc (Pass) and B.Com admissions

KU extends form submission date
Karachi, Apr 17: Registrar University of Karachi (KU) Prof. M. Rais Alvi has announced that the last date for admission form submission to First and Second years of B.A (Pass)/B.Sc (Pass) and B.Com classes has been extended to April 30. A late fee of Rs1000 will be charged.

The Registrar also requested principles of all affiliated degree colleges of Arts, Science and Commerce to forward the pay orders of late fee in favour of the university with a list of admission to the Registrar latest by May 5. A copy of admission list may also be forwarded to the Enrolment Section of the University.

Meanwhile, the KU Registrar also announced that elections of members for the Senate and Academic Council of the university from the Constituency of Affiliated College Teachers that were scheduled to be held on April 22 have been postponed.

Alvi said that the reasons for postponement were objections/petitions and some technical matters. The remaining process would be announced later, the Registrar said.

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MAJU awards Mustafa Kamal honorary doctorate
Karachi: Former Karachi Nazim Mustafa Kamal was conferred an honorary PhD degree on Friday by the Mohammad Ali Jinnah University (MAJU) at the institution's 2010 convocation.

While paying tribute to the services of Kamal, MAJU President Dr Abdul Wahab said that ability, action and accomplishment are the three factors that give a person a "triple A rating."

He stated that Kamal became the Mayor of Karachi in October 2005, and his tenure as city mayor significantly described his ability to get things done on a timely basis.

He completed 4,296 projects including 194 mega projects related to water and sewerage, 35 flyovers and underpasses, 316 and 15,500km long road projects, 356 parks, 35 mega sports projects, 488 educational projects, 158 hospitals including 4 cardiac hospitals, 387 transport projects with e-ticketing CNG buses, a first of its kind parking plaza and the commissioning of ISO-9001 for Citizen's Complaints Information Management System.

Wahab stated that the unique Command and Control System helped controlling crimes and traffic congestion on major city arteries and corridors and the plantation of over one million trees also made the city visually green and environmentally clean.

He also said that on completion of the Mayor's tenure, Karachi was handed over as a reshaped city. "Today, Muhammed Ali Jinnah University is paying a tribute to this personality and awarding him an Honorary Doctorate Degree", Wahab said.

Kamal thanked Wahab for appreciating the achievements of his government, and hoped that the new set-up would carry forward the progress that was made. The news

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KU develops edible film to preserve food
Karachi: A team of researchers at Karachi University has developed a novel edible film from wheat protein (gluten) that can be used as a sealing and packaging material to increase the shelf-life of a number of processed and unprocessed foods. The process, the researchers claim, could have a wide-ranging impact on the agriculture sector by reducing the country's high post-harvest losses, especially of fruits and vegetables, bringing their prices down and boosting exports.

The research was conducted by Mahmood Azam, Dr Abid Hasnain (research supervisor), Mohammad Danish and Sohail Akhtar at the department of food science and technology.

The team has secured a patent from the United States Patent and Trade Mark Office. The process - Method for fractionating gliadin from wheat gluten protein and fabrication of edible film therefrom - is also registered with the Pakistan Patent Office.

"Edible films and coatings have been gaining popularity across the world in recent years as means to preserve food. They are biodegradable, environment-friendly as well as low cost. We got an international patent because the method we applied is different from the ones currently in use. While it's the first time in Pakistan that an edible film has been produced," Dr Abid Hasnain said.

Dr Hasnain praised the Higher Education Commission for providing support to the researchers to file for a US patent which, he said, was a costly affair.

The researchers are now waiting to secure government funding to take the research to the next level of testing the process on a pilot scale.

The new technology could positively impact the agriculture sector where, according to unofficial estimates, the post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables are as high as 40 to 45 per cent.

Commenting on the situation, Mahmood Azam said: "A number of factors are impeding the growth of the agriculture sector, a major contributor to the GDP and the single largest source of foreign exchange earnings of our country. The foremost issue is the high losses in the post-harvest management of fruits and vegetables that are happening due to inefficient handling and transportation and lack of modern storage and processing and packaging facilities."

Edible films and coatings, Mr Azam said, was one of the methods to increase the shelf-life while maintaining the freshness of fruits and vegetables after harvesting. The method had been in use for many years in the world.

The edible films and coatings were made of natural polymers obtained from animal and vegetable proteins, gums and lipids. These proteins include corn zein, wheat gluten, soy protein, peanut protein, keratin, collagen, gelatin and milk proteins.

Edible films increase shelf-life of fresh produces

Explaining the function of the edible films and coatings, he said that the increase in shelf-life of fresh produce was based on the fact that fruits and vegetables required specific gas composition for ripening. Modification in the gas composition of the surrounding air could delay the ripening process and hence increase the shelf-life of fruits and vegetables.

"The edible films and coatings not only provide an effective barrier against the transfer of moisture, but can also regulate the rate of gas transfer between fresh produces and the surrounding air. The retention of moisture helps in maintaining the freshness of fruits and vegetables while specific gas composition delay the onset of ripening," he said.

An edible film can also act as a carrier of nutrients, preservatives and colorants when applied to food, he pointed out.

When asked about the novelty of the indigenous idea and the prior work done on the subject, Mr Azam said that wheat gluten proteins were inexpensive to fabricate flexible films and efforts had been made in different countries to optimise its thermal and mechanical properties.

"Most of the films developed earlier exhibited excellent edible and barrier properties, but failed to achieve good heat sealing together with solubility. The edible film we have developed can conveniently be removed by simple washing or the consumer can eat it along with the food. There is no health risk."

"We have avoided using large quantities of ethanol, enzymes and disruptive or reducing agents in order to make it cost-effective," he said, adding that the solubility of the new edible film was more important for people who were gluten-intolerant.

Unlike other commercial preparations, the gluten-derived edible film does not have any objectionable flavour, colour or odour. The method also does not require any pH adjustments.

Answering a question regarding the cost and viability of the process, he said that there was no problem in its large-scale operation and that the cost factor was always connected with the consumer demand.

"Take for instance the case of fresh pineapple. The fruit is much economical in tin and is available all over the world. In fact, its cultivation has increased many times after the development of packaging facilities. Therefore, as we have developed an edible film from a fraction of wheat protein (relatively a simple compound), there is also a possibility that one can synthesise it chemically, which will again reduce the cost.

"Secondly, gluten-free flour is available even in Pakistan. So, wheat protein is a by-product in this case. This fact should attend to the concern that we are not compromising on the wheat being used for human consumption. Thirdly, the edible films are biodegradable and environment-friendly. The edible films could also replace polythene in certain applications," he explained.

The next step for the team is to launch the exercise on a pilot scale that would help improve the mechanical properties and quality of the edible films.

"We want to purchase a laboratory scale extruder for the fabrication of the edible films. There should also be more testing facilities for the edible films and other packaging material. This will help us compare mechanical and barrier properties of our edible films with synthetic packaging materials and other reported research involved in fabrication of edible films," he said.

The team has also started developing edible films from fruit and vegetable waste. So far, the results have been positive. Dawn

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DUHS students to display their research work today
Karachi: Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) here on Friday announced to hold a "Research Work Exhibition" of the projects undertaken by its under-graduate and post-graduate students. The programme titled as DUHS Research Fair 2010 will be held on Saturday (today) and will be inaugurated by Dr Farhat Abbas of the Aga Khan University. A special ceremony has been arranged on the occasion providing selected students to make their respective presentation and the first best three of them will be awarded with shields. The news

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