Social Media and Cyber-Jihad in Pakistan

The Internet and social media are part of today’s battlefield between the forces of liberalism and those of extremism, at least in Pakistan. Both forces are jostling for using—and controlling—the Internet and social media to make themselves heard and silence the opposition. This paper looks into how extremist forces appropriate the Internet and social media to get their message out, sway public opinion in their favor and seek new recruits. It also examines the potentials of social media for civic activism in Pakistan and how the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan’s constitution stifles liberal voices on the Internet and social media. This paper discusses the concept of blasphemy in Islam, their incorporation in the legal system of Pakistan and their impact on the freedom of expression. This paper concludes that an effective use of social media is contingent on at least three things: 1) Literacy 2) access to the Internet and social media tools and 3) media laws and policies that guarantee freedom of expression and access to information. These are essential for the creation of a vibrant public sphere, which can then be strengthened by using social media as a long-term tool. Without freedom of expression, liberal forces cannot make full use of social media for promoting democracy and rights of minority groups.

Multidimensional Process Models for Seeded Batch Crystallization

This contribution focuses on the modeling and numerical approxima- tion of population balance models describing batch and polymorphic crystallization processes. Such processes have wide range applica- tions inne chemicals, pharmaceutical, minerals, and food indus- tries. Di erent numerical techniques are employed for solving these models in one and two property coordinates. The space-time CE/SE method and the semi-discrete upwindnite volume schemes are de- rived and implemented to solve the batch crystallization models with nes dissolution. Thene dissolution reduces undesirable small crys- tals and improves the quality of a product. A delay in the recycle pipe is also included in the model. Apart from the above mentioned methods, a new numerical technique is introduced to solve a model describing polymorphic crystallization of L-glutamic acid. The sug- gested technique employs together the method of characteristics and Duhamel''s principle to approximate the considered model e ciently and accurately. This technique has capability to produce accurate results on coarse meshes and no mesh re nement technique is needed for further improvement in the results. Furthermore, an alternative bivariate quadrature method of moments (QMOM) is developed for solving two-dimensional batch crystallization model involving crys- tals growth, nucleation, aggregation, and small nuclei dissolution in an external loop. The quadrature points and weights are obtained by using the orthogonal polynomials of lower order moments. Several case studies are carried out. The numerical computations demonstrate the eficiency, accuracy, and robustness of the proposed schemes. The results agree with the experimental predictions and could be used for process design and optimization.