Daily Bulletin

UW's Muslims mark Ramadan -- by Barbara Elve

During this month, Muslims eat an early breakfast before dawn and a late dinner after sunset. Between those times, they have nothing to eat or drink. While Ramadan is observed in the same way every year, the dates fluctuate based on cycles of the moon.

This year is special, says electrical and computer engineering professor Mohamed Elmasry, because Ramadan coincides with celebrations of the Jewish festival of Chanukah and the Christian observance of Christmas -- an overlap that occurs only every 33 years.

"It's an important opportunity to learn more about each other and to work together toward the common goals of achieving world peace and social justice as an exercise of faith," says Elmasry, who has for the past two years served as national president of the Canadian Islamic Congress.

He sees Ramadan as a "spiritual training ground for spiritual fitness the rest of the year." Although the primary goal of fasting is "greater awareness of ourselves as spiritual beings and feeling closer to our creator," the reality is that Muslims experience Ramadan on different levels. "For some the only gain is feeling thirst and hunger," which, while not the point of the exercise, helps them to "relate to people who have only one meal a day and lack fresh water to drink."

The timing of Ramadan this year may prove difficult for students writing exams. Most people go through exams without breaking the fast, says Elmasry, but if any student feels the fast is too great a hardship, he or she can make a personal choice, instead, to fast outside of Ramadan to compensate for days missed.

Working side by side with colleagues of many faiths has its challenges, too. If people want to be supportive of those observing Ramadan, they might, out of courtesy, not have a coffee break or eat their lunch in front of them. "Ask if it bothers them," Elmasry advises.

Faculty seek Toronto parity

In a statement read to the fall general meeting of the association yesterday, chief negotiator Mohamed Elmasry noted that "Our goal is to make Waterloo the most competitive Canadian university in retaining and attracting faculty.

"Pay equity with the University of Toronto is necessary but not sufficient to achieve our goal. There is international competition, especially from the U.S. universities for the same pool of faculty."

Faculty salaries at the University of Toronto are the highest in the country, he added, and the difference between Toronto and Waterloo is "more than 10 per cent".

With UW and U of T sharing the highest reputation ratings among educators and business leaders in the country, Elmasry said, "this ranking must be maintained in a fiercely competitive academic labour market. We are living in an extraordinary time, which demands extraordinary measures. This stems from the fact that universities are facing growing student numbers, a greater emphasis on knowledge-based economy, and the loss of intellectual capital in faculty.

"We ask our administration to uphold the moral and legal principle of equal pay for equal work. Thus our demand for pay equity with the faculty at the University of Toronto is to correct what was wrong for many years."

Talks between the university and the faculty association are tentatively scheduled to begin this month, for a new salary scale to begin May 1, 2000.

Student wins design competition -- by Michelle T. Lehmann

Karmali was on an exchange in Singapore when he first approached a biomedical engineering professor about working together on a project requirement for his SDE 361 course. Karmali's supervisor was S. M. Krishnan, director of the Biomedical Engineering Research Centre at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Its eventual title: "Data Fusion and Analysis of Multimodal Cardiovascular and Respiratory System Signals for Clinical Diagnosis".

He said the project, which predicts heart problems using cardiovascular and respiratory signal processing, consisted of two months of research and design and another two months developing the software prototype. The whole system ran on a PC and was tested using hospital patients' data recorded by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The competition required a 10-page summary of the design, the problem, and the motivation. That part was easy: with this design, says Karmali, it may be possible to detect more heart problems and save lives.

He explained that his project is geared toward patients at risk of a heart problem and hospitalized in the critical care unit. These patients are monitored by an EKG and respiratory machine. Traditionally, limits for both the heart and respiratory rates are set and if the numbers increase or decrease too much an alarm warns hospital staff. His system combines the two existing systems into one monitoring machine. An important feature is that individually the systems may not detect a problem with the patient, but together they should indicate any problems, Karmali said.

"The best part of winning the competition," he says, "is the recognition. The award is invaluable to me because I think it'll be my way into grad school." In addition to the recognition, Karmali received a certificate, a plaque, reimbursement for travel to the conference, and a $300 cheque.

The project will require more testing before it can be implemented into hospitals, but Karmali admits that he wants that time to explore other areas which will broaden his experience. The design is currently on display on the first floor of the Engineering II building.

Other notes as exams begin

The Ontario Ballet Theatre is back in the Humanities Theatre today with productions of "The Nutcracker" at 1:00 and 7:30.

Peter Fulcher of the plant operations department sends a warning that a crew is doing repairs to the glass walls of the Davis Centre today, specifically in the link area between the main building and the CIM wing at the engineering end of Davis. "Please use caution in this area," he suggests.

An exhibition curated by Melissa Gordon, who graduated from the Master of Fine Arts program last spring, opens tonight at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery downtown. "Everyone is welcome to attend the opening," writes fine arts professor Ann Roberts. The show is "Visual Feast: A Sumptuous Selection of Ceramic Plates and Platters", but at the opening reception tonight, starting at 7:00, "food will be on plates," Roberts promises.

Gift wrapping help is needed by charitable and service agencies at a number of local malls, says a note from the Volunteer Action Centre. If you're skillful with ribbons and tissue paper, you could help the Alzheimer Society at Highland Hills Mall, Big Sisters at Waterloo Town Square, or Epilepsy Waterloo-Wellington at Conestoga Mall, for example. For more information and schedules, the VAC can be reached at 742-8610.

Finally, a reminder that the annual carol sing in the Modern Languages lobby, led by Jake Willms, is happening a little later than usual this year. No, it's not today; the music is scheduled for next Wednesday, December 15, at 12:15 p.m.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
| Yesterday's Bulletin
Copyright © 1999 University of Waterloo