Enhance Your Career in Energy

Monday, June 2, 2014

Are you looking for an upgrade and hoping to get a plum job in the International Community? Then make this decision wisely to study at the Oil capital of the World (Aberdeen) this September 2014 and in January 2015.
Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen Scotland- A University with an Energy focus. It’s known worldwide for its expertise in Energy related courses.  Robert Gordon University has a wide range of Energy related degrees at Postgraduate and Undergraduate Levels to suit all. Continue...

Robert Gordon University Aberdeen offers courses in Engineering, Law,Computing, Business Management, Life Sciences, Accounting and Finance and endless other courses.  

Robert Gordon University representatives will be giving on the spot admissions and free study visa counselling at their Nigerian Representative TGM Education (www.tgmeducation.com) Abujaand Lagos office.

Meet Jamie, Donncha and David from the International Office and from various Faculties to discuss your study plans this Septemberas admissions closes soon. They will be available to speak about any of the subjects at RobertGordonUniversity and talk in detail about courses and scholarships available for September 2014, so come along and meet with them with all of your qualifications. Please e-mail admin@tgmeducation.com for all requirements for admissions.

For those that have a Third class/HND’s too, you are not left behind upgrade yourself and study at a World class Universityfor the Pre-Masters programme.

Free Student Interviews: TheStudent Interviews and Counseling Session will be taking place at the addresses below. Admissions into Foundation, Undergraduate, Postgraduate and PHD open.

Date:5^th June 2014, Time: 10.30am – 13.30pm Phone no: 0809-393-8207, 0802-376-5748

Please confirm your attendance by emailing: admin@tgmeducation.com

Nigerian Representative Office

Babalola Kemi

Lagos Interview: TG Marchnata Education (TGM Education)

No 18/20 KudiratAbiola Road,

3^rdFloor (Kobis Restaurant Building)

OregunI keja, Lagos.

Mobile Number: 08093938207, 0802-376-5748

Email:admin@tgmeducation.com, toluadeusi@tgmeducation.com

Precious Ikhinmwin Abuja Office:TG Marchnata (TGM Education)

Office | Suite 301A DBM PLaza, Plot 1381-1383, Cadastral Zone A02 (Opp First Forty Hotel) | Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2 | Abuja Nigeria.Tel: 09 - 291- 8226, 0809-393-8217
Email: info.abj@tgmeducation.com

Website: www.tgmeducation.com

For N.J. Mayor, The Time To Adapt To Rising Sea Levels Is Now

Hoboken, N.J., residents walk through flood water in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Mayor Dawn Zimmer is advocating for better planning and increased funding for flood-prone urban areas.

Charles Sykes/AP

Last week, scientists warned that a massive chunk of the West Antarctica Ice Sheet will eventually drift into the sea and melt, raising sea levels at least 10 feet higher than previous predictions.
Even before the announcement, scientists at the nonprofit research organization that surging seas could put the homes of nearly 5 million Americans underwater by the end of this century.
Dawn Zimmer, mayor of Hoboken, N.J., is a member of President Obama's Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience. She's one of many elected leaders in coastal areas around the country working to stave off future flooding disasters.
Zimmer says that the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy — and the four floods that have hit her city since — moved her to action. Hoboken's strategy, she tells Morning Edition's Renee Montagne, includes purchasing land and building new parks to help absorb rainwater; retaining as much rainwater as possible and updating the city's drainage and pumping systems. "We need to figure out a way to live with water," she says.

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Interview Highlights

On Adaptation
We're living with climate change right now. We've had ... four major flood events [since Hurricane Sandy]. So that means people's cars are totaled, people's homes are still getting flooded. We're seeing it on a regular basis, these heavy downpours. So, to a certain extent, the climate change assessment that just came out reaffirms what we absolutely have to do. ...
I'm hopeful that we're going to implement this integrated strategy that is going to allow us to live with water. [Hoboken] potentially can be a model for this. ...
We have an opportunity that was impossible for other species. I'm sure that if the dinosaur could have predicted ... the ice age coming and observed it, and developed a plan, they would have done that. But they couldn't do that. We can do this. We can adapt. And we must adapt. We see it in Hoboken and Weehawken and Jersey City.

This is the no. 1 priority for me, as the mayor of Hoboken. This is the biggest challenge that our city is facing. We are living with this now and we need to figure out a way to live with water.

On Building Codes
We passed a flood-prevention ordinance that says, for future buildings, [they have] to be built with all of the utilities raised up — with the mechanicals for the elevators, for example, all raised up, so that those buildings in the future will be much more resilient.
On Federal Funding
As a member of President Obama's Climate Change Task Force, I'm continuing to advocate ... for changes in the National Flood Insurance Program, which would make it so that we could get money towards raising up our utilities. Right now ... we're paying into this system where we don't really get much out of it. So I think we really need to really try to look at those federal policies.

Big Flightless Birds Come From High-Flying Ancestors

by

May 22, 2014 3:59 PM ET

 

The egg definitely came before the chicken in this case — the skeleton is from a modern adult kiwi, the egg from its much bigger, long-extinct cousin, Aepyornis maximus.

Kyle Davis and Paul Scofield/Canterbury Museum

Big, flightless birds like the , the and the are scattered around the Southern Hemisphere because their ancestors once flew around the world, a new study suggests.
That's a surprise, because it means birds in Australia, Africa and South America independently evolved in ways that made them all lose the ability to fly.

“ The mystery was, how did they turn up on all the southern continents, and why were they so large — these great, big flightless things? They don't do any of the conventional bird things.

- Alan Cooper

These related birds — known as — have been a puzzle for evolutionary biologists for more than a century.
"The mystery was, how did they turn up on all the southern continents, and why were they so large — these great, big flightless things?" says , director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide. "They don't do any of the conventional bird things. They don't fly, and they're fairly unspectacular-looking in many ways, apart from the fact that they're huge."
Scientists used to believe that these birds shared a flightless ancestor that once lived on a supercontinent called Gondwana that was in the Southern Hemisphere back in the Cretaceous — millions of years ago.

More than 6 feet tall and weighing more than 500 pounds, the now-extinct "elephant bird" ran through the spiny forests of ancient Madagascar. DNA evidence suggests New Zealand's kiwi is its closest modern cousin.

Courtesy of Brian Choo

The idea was that, as this supercontinent broke up into pieces, "the ratite birds were sitting on board and were being separated by these continents moving, and that that's how they came to be where they were," says Cooper. "And because they're flightless, it seemed like a pretty good model."
Pretty good — but also wrong. Or at least that's what Cooper now thinks, because of a recent discovery.
He and some colleagues extracted DNA from the bones of an extinct bird that lived on the island of Madagascar until about 1,000 years ago. It's called the "elephant bird," because Arab traders saw the remains of its giant eggs and imagined the bird that must have laid them.
"The legend was that this bird would carry off elephants," says Cooper. "That's how the elephant bird actually got its name."
The elephant bird couldn't fly and looked like an ostrich — except about 30 percent bigger. When Cooper's team compared the ancient bird's DNA to all the other flightless birds in the ratite group, they found that its closest relative was the kiwi, the little national bird of New Zealand.
Cooper was shocked. He says the kiwi was "the last one I would have predicted if I had to guess." He says the tiny, insect-eating kiwi looks nothing like the giant, plant-eating elephant bird.

“ You're looking at this result and thinking, 'It has to be flying!' You can't get from Madagascar to New Zealand any other way.

- Alan Cooper

Importantly, he says, "it's completely on the other side of the world." That means there's no way that separating continents can explain why a bird in Madagascar has its closet relative in New Zealand.
"And you're looking at this result and thinking, 'It has to be flying!' You can't get from Madagascar to New Zealand any other way," says Cooper.

He believes small ancestral birds must have flown long distances, taking up residence in new places. These small birds then independently evolved into the big, flightless birds we see around the Southern Hemisphere today, according to his team's report in the journal Science.
"No one would ever have expected it," says , a researcher at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. He used to believe that separating continents explained the evolution of these birds, but now he agrees that they must have had flying ancestors.
"You can't close your mind to this. And so when other evidence comes up that points this out, you have another hypothesis that you're testing and it appears to be a much better explanation of what's going on," says Baker. "I think that's fabulous. It's how science progresses."
One remaining question is why these birds around the world would independently lose the ability to fly and get big.
Cooper notes that this happened right after the 65 million years ago. Between that event and the eventual rise of mammals, there would be a time with no predators, when birds could become big and flightless without being eaten.

Organic Cat Litter Chief Suspect In Nuclear Waste Accident

Workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant are still investigating what caused a radioactive release at the site, but organic cat litter may be the culprit.

DOE/WIPP

In February, a 55-gallon drum of radioactive waste burst open inside America's only nuclear dump, in New Mexico.
Now investigators believe the cause may have been a pet store purchase gone bad.
"It was the wrong kitty litter," says , a geochemist in Richland, Wash., who has spent decades in the nuclear waste business.
It turns out there's more to cat litter than you think. It can soak up urine, but it's just as good at absorbing radioactive material.
"It actually works well both in the home litter box as well as the radiochemistry laboratory," says Conca, who is not directly involved in the current investigation.

Hundreds of drums may contain the wrong cat litter. They are being sealed in larger containers, just to be safe.

C. McDonald/WCS

Cat litter has been used for years to dispose of nuclear waste. Dump it into a drum of sludge and it will stabilize volatile radioactive chemicals. The litter prevents it from reacting with the environment.
And this is what contractors at were doing as they packed Cold War-era waste for shipment to the dump. But at some point, they decided to make a switch, from clay to organic.
"Now that might sound nice, you're trying to be green and all that, but the organic kitty litters are organic," says Conca. Organic litter is made of plant material, which is full of chemical compounds that can react with the nuclear waste.
"They actually are just fuel, and so they're the wrong thing to add," he says. Investigators now believe the litter and waste caused the drum to slowly heat up "sort of like a slow burn charcoal briquette instead of an actual bomb."
After it arrived at the dump, it burst.
"How come nobody caught this and raised a red flag?" asks , New Mexico's secretary of the environment. Flynn says that the cause of the accident still isn't 100 percent clear. Scientists at Los Alamos have yet to find the exact blend of cat litter and nuclear waste that can spark a reaction.
But he says it is clear that the wrong material went into some of the drums. He wants to know why the Department of Energy, which handles the waste, let this happen.
"I'm frustrated," he says.
Flynn says there are more than 500 drums packed with the wrong litter. The majority are relatively safely underground in the dump, but dozens are still at Los Alamos and another . None of these drums have burst so far, but the lab and the company handling the Texas waste have put them in heavy containers for added protection.
Flynn says federal authorities need to come up with a long-term solution and prevent future mix-ups.
"Ultimately [the waste is] the responsibility of the Department of Energy," he says. "It's also now their responsibility to clean it up and fix it."

Quacks Behind Incessant Building Collapse – Experts

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Quacks Behind Incessant Building Collapse – Experts

Nkechi Isaac

— March 11, 2014

Over the years, Nigeria has faced the challenge of buildings collapsing in various locations across the country with enormous loss of lives and property. This development has been causing governments at different tiers as well as the people deep worry. Experts have been brainstorming on how to address this ugly situation with little or no visible result.
In an exclusive chat with LEADERSHIP, the chairman, Nigerian Insitute of Town Planners (NITP), FCT Chapter, Mr. Nathaniel Atebije, said the incessant occurrence of building collapse in Nigeria was attributable to the activities of quacks.
He said instead of using qualified builders, some developers chose to use masons and artisans whose expertise did not go beyond mixing cement, chippings and sand to execute their building projects, which he described as a recipe for tragedy.
He said: “As an institute, our stand is advocacy, to plead with the people to make sure that the right people do their job. We encourage prospective developers to make sure that they reach out to qualified hands so that they don’t experience building collapse.”
Highlighting steps taken by the institute to curb the use of quacks in carrying out building projects in the country, Atebije said the operation of quacks had been minimized in the practice of urban and regional planning in the FCT with the introduction of professional stamps and seal.
“The institute has been able to enforce the use of professional stamps and seal as evidence of professional handling of projects especially for site analysis report for location plan, layouts, master plans as well as environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports,” he pointed out.
He expressed the hope that the success of the exercise would result in the enforcement of professional stamps and seals as evidence of professional handling by other chapters of the institute.
It would be recalled that the institute in charge of supervising and monitoring builders in Nigeria, the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) had made several concerted efforts at curbing the recurrent building collapse in the country.
Only recently, the director-general/chief executive officer (CEO), NBRRI, Prof. Danladi Matawal blamed the development on the use of poor quality materials in building construction.
He said: “The poor applications and use of inferior materials especially concrete, has been identified as a major causative factor for collapse of buildings in Nigeria. The failure of structures by explosion denotes that there was poor concreting on site.”
Added to this, Matawal said were improper foundation and lack of subsoil investigations, pointing out that “the terminology for foundations in Nigeria is blinding which is grossly misleading because it could be responsible for many of the collapses. This is because blinding is the process of ground preparation in order to provide an even surface upon which the actual foundation of the structure can be built.”
According to him: “If a foundation is not properly designed it may lead to the catastrophic collapse of the soil beneath the foundation, when the shear strength is inadequate to support the applied load or it may lead to the excessive settlement of the structure which will take place due to the distortion of the soil mass as a result of applied shear stress and in part due to the consolidation of the soil as a result of increased normal stresses.”
The NBRRI helmsman also elucidated that building collapse in some cases could be attributed to the overall design of the structure and site supervision.
“Most collapsed buildings which has been witnessed in Nigeria belongs to private individuals, who from all deductions did not get guidance for their structural design from qualified engineers. They fail to pay attention to the most critical structural framing elements from the bottom, which is the order of sequence construction, foundations, columns, beams, slabs, roof members, staircases in reinforced concrete and many other steel structures. This omission by private developers has led to building collapse with high fatality,” he added.
He further said that Portland cement, which accounts for 90% of all the cements produced globally also has a critical role to play in aesthetics of buildings.
Giving short term measures to reduce collapse incidences in the country, Matawal said that the Institute had not been idly observing the trend of building collapse without putting actions in place to curb the incidence.
“NBBRI has considered the need for the use of some sensitization bill boards campaigning and sensitizing on the use of quality materials, employment of appropriate technical personnel to design and supervise building construction,” he stated.
He listed other measures to include organizing conferences, workshops, seminars and training programmes for the continuous professional development (CPD) of stakeholders.
Matawal also said that NBRRI intended to set up a materials testing laboratory for testing soils, cement, concrete, bitumen and asphaltic concrete products and other construction products in Abuja while improving the national laboratoty in Ota as well as contemplate zonal and even state laboratories in the future.
Some of the long term measures proffered by the NBRRI boss include the decision to establish a NBRRI academy to train and provide skilled labour for the construction sector in the areas of draughting, detailing, iron bending, artisanship, block making and laying brick concrete and mortar artisans and workmen, plumbing, electrical works and others.
He tasked the tertiary education sector especially the universities, polytechnics and monotechnics, technical colleges on the need to work assiduously to empower students with the appropriate and practical knowledge to tackle the challenges of the Nigerian technological aspirations in the construction sector.
In his recommendations, the development control boss said that the establishment of materials testing laboratory would facilitate carrying out integrity test for buildings. He also suggested the use of Outdoor Broadcasting System (OBS) for physical monitoring of construction site to check excesses by site engineers.

FG To Partner With KACCIMA, Local Investors To Develop Mining Sector

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FG To Partner With KACCIMA, Local Investors To Develop Mining Sector

AGENCY REPORTS

— April 12, 2014

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Musa Sada, said the Federal Government would partner with Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KACCIMA) and local investors to develop the mining sector.
He made the disclosure when a delegation from the Chamber visited him in Abuja on Friday.
He said the Federal Government wanted Nigerians to be major players in the mining sector, noting that the existing collaboration between the government and stakeholders in the sector would be strengthened.
He lamented that operations in the sector were being dominated by Chinese and Indians and stressed the need for Nigerians to be exposed to the sector and participate fully.
The minister said that the ministry wanted to expand the scope of stakeholders in the industry and encourage them to develop the minerals and metals sector for enhanced economic development of the country.
He urged the delegates to establish cordial relationship with the mineral and metals unit of the ministry, whose mandate was to aid and guide investors on the areas of mining in the country.
He said the promotion of limestone and clay resources by the Federal Government had led to increase in the number of ceramic companies in the country.
He assured that more Nigerians would be encouraged to participate in the activities in the mining sector.
Earlier, the KACCIMA President, Dr Abdul-Alimi Bello, said the visit was in appreciation of the ministry’s participation at the recent 35th Kaduna International Trade Fair and to brief the minister on the chamber’s activities.
Bello said that KACCIMA, which had existed for 40 years, had significantly contributed to the socio-economic growth of the country, especially the Northern part.
He intimated the minister about the forthcoming Solid Minerals Exhibition to be organised by the chamber in Kaduna.
He also solicited the ministry’s partnership in the event, particularly in educating the public on activities in the mining sector. (NAN)

‘Investors Shun Made In Nigeria Inventions, Innovations’

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‘Investors Shun Made In Nigeria Inventions, Innovations’

Nkechi Isaac

— April 15, 2014

Nigeria is regarded as the giant of Africa with a vast demography and massive population. Irrespective all these endowments, Nigeria do not have a globally recognized product to its name. Commenting on this development, Nigerian inventors blamed investors as the bane of their inability to come up with a Made-in-Nigeria product.
Inventors in the country operating under the aegis of Association of Nigerian Inventors have decried investors’ seeming lack of faith in made-in-Nigeria inventions and innovations, saying it has slowed down development of the industry.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with LEADERSHIP, the president-general of the association, Chief Okon Essien, said the inability of investors to invest in made-in-Nigeria products was behind the nation’s inability to develop and roll out a globally recognized product.
Essien said, “for us to bring out made-in-Nigeria products of high quality to meet international standard you have to invest money, that is number one problem. Many investors are not keen to put venture capital to develop these inventions to marketable products internationally.
“In fact we have very useful products that can be developed from Nigerian inventions. For example, a power generating plant just developed by one of our members from overhead water tank. From overhead water tank, water flows down under pressure, turns a turbine, turbine turns alternator and power is generated. We have a plant in Warri, our investors have refused to invest money to perfect that project, nobody is keen to finance it, they all want readymade products”.
He also cited another product which he said had been developed by another inventor- the fuel- less generator, which is still waiting to be financed by a willing investor.
According to him, “there is also another product, the electricity generation from electric motor and alternator; the fuel -less generator. We have Ilaro Polytechnic and independent inventors working on it but investors are not coming up to invest in it. Though Ilaro owns it, we have 2.5 kilowatts going for 100,000, but it’s still not perfected. And you see if they solve the power problem through this stand alone generator in the country, it will go a long way to improve the economy.”
Essien further said the unavailability of venture capital companies to assist inventors with seed capital for their various projects was another problem or challenge that was inhibiting the development of made-in-Nigeria products.
“You see most of the products you see are made by independent inventors; most of them roadside mechanics, they don’t have enough capital to do fancy finishing. You know, when you’re talking of the regular products made by Nigerian factories, we mean original innovative products that can come out. In order to finish it, you need the expertise and some of these inventors are not trained in machining, in design engineering and to do that they have to link up with experts who will demand money from them and it still boils down to venture capital.
“We don’t have venture capital companies in this country; by this I mean people who want to put money where they’re not entirely sure it can succeed. It goes with risk taking in business. Once this can be promoted then there will be a noticeable turnaround in the good finishing of Nigerian inventions,” he added.
He further called on the federal government to play a visible role in encouraging investors by floating its own venture capital agency that would be in charge of financing new inventions. “By doing so, inventors will be encouraged to go the extra mile to bring out quality made in Nigeria product that can compete with its contemporaries worldwide. The problem is not that we can’t do what other inventors are doing in China and other developed countries, our problem is the inability of the government and investors to invest in Nigerian investors and innovators. The lack of faith of investors and even the government in developing the innovation and inventions industry is the reason behind Nigeria’s inability to come up with a globally recognized product,” he stressed.
Another inventor, Mr. Bernard Emeka Eme, also blamed the problem of Nigerian entrepreneurs was lack of interest in made-in-Nigeria inventions.
Eme said, “the problem we have in Nigeria is entrepreneurs interest. Entrepreneurs are not keen to come and key into these inventions. The function of an entrepreneur is to come in and key into products of inventor, as soon as this is done it can facilitate the process of bringing out better refined products into the market.”
According to him, “it is quite unfortunate that Nigerians are afraid of their fellow Nigerians in terms of innovation and inventions but they fail to know that development of innovation and inventions are not done that way. Any invention that is credit worthy must be appreciated.
“Investors don’t patronize Nigerian inventors, they prefer to go to China and do their businesses. This is very wrong because we have competent inventors here in Nigeria who can be encouraged through patronage.”

NITDA Gets New DG

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NITDA Gets New DG

Nkechi Isaac

— April 15, 2014

The federal government has approved the appointment of Mr Peter Jack as the substiantive director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
His appointment, which took effect from April 7, 2014, was for a first term of four years.
Jack   holds a BSc. in chemical engineering, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife, a masters degree in chemical engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Lagos.
Jack attended the International Information Technology Policy Programme, College of Engineering, Seoul National University, South Korea in 2007.
Jack designed and implemented the Niger Delta Youth Computer Training Program for Niger Delta Development Commission in 2003.
He started as a training consultant with NITDA on 1st August 2001, and later became the technical assistant to the then directo-general, Prof. C.O. Angaye in January 2006 on temporary appointment. His appointment was terminated on 1st March, 2007 to enable him pursue a PhD programme in South Korea
A statement by the ag. head, corporate affairs, NITDA, Mrs. Hadiza Umar, said the former DG of NITDA, Prof. Cleopas Angaye, retired in July 2013, having served for two terms with a total of eight years, handed over to the director, software and outsourcing, Dr. Ashiru Daura, who acted as the director-general of the agency until Jack’s appointment.