May 2014, Issue 2

You can be the Greatest and Biggest among your peers... OM!

Academic Bites. Studentactivities &

involvementFun Bites

Oil & Gas

News & ActivitiesNew ideas fromstudents & lecturers.

Pg. 3 - 4 Pg. 5 Pg. 6

College

BlueCrest College won 2nd Prize in Technology Innovation ContestBanybah Kossi Selom, Jethro Johnson and Gifty Obasi, studying in Semester VIII- B.Sc (IT), recently participated in the Technical Innovation Contest conducted by University of Education, Winneba on 04th April 2014. They brought laurels to the College by winning 2nd

If you have a story or an experience at BlueCrest College to share, get in touch at newsletter@bluecrest.edu.gh

To help Instructors provide t h e r i g h t e d u c a t i o n a l resourcesTo facilitate learning for working studentsTo help students have access to required learning resourcesTo provide an online and offline learning environmentsTo enhance our education systemTo e n h a n c e s t u d e n t s ' confidence

Dear Readers, We take immense pride in bringing to you the 2nd edition of Optimus Maximus, newsletter of BlueCrest College. This edition presents new and interesting insights into diverse topics in academic field by the staff members along with exciting articles by the students.We would like to thank BlueCrest staff members & students for the tremendous support they've extended for the release of the brilliant & colorful volume of this newsletter.Every effort has been made to provide accurate and current information; however the information contained in the newsletter is subject to change at any time, without notice. It is intended to serve only as a general source of information about the College and its activities and is in no way intended to state contractual terms. Information provided by the authors are their own views and College is in no way responsible for the inaccuracies and any harm it may bring to anyone.

Vivek K. VermaCollege Director / Lead Editor - OM

Editor’s Desk

Vivek K. VermaDr. Edem AdjabengCharles Saah

Rajesh RanoliaSujith JayaprakashPeter Kwame Dekpor

BlueCrest College has entered into a partnership with University of Sunderland, one of the most renowned Universities in UK, to offer two of i t s Masters p r o g r a m m e s . U n d e r t h i s partnership two postgraduate programmes, MSc in Computing and MSc in IT Management, will be offered in Ghana.

This partnership will surely go a long way in elevating IT expertise in the country as the programmes are designed to produce highly motivated, technically competent individuals to meet the local, regional and international need of expertise in computing and management.

Position in a tough competition among various teams. Selom and team developed educational portal using PHP and MySQL. The portal will enable the lecturers to upload the educational materials for the students. Students can get an easy access to these materials even in an offline mode. Educational Software “Kelasi” is packaged with lots of unique features like providing an interface for uploading & modifying educational materials to keep it up to date.

bluecrest.ghana

www.bluecrest.edu.gh

bluecrestghana

Pg. 6 Pg. 7 - 8

Master of Science in Computing Master of Science in IT Management

OPTIMUS MAXIMUS - May 2014 Page 2

Faculties transforming lives of students.....With programs offered through local and International alliances, BlueCrest College offers wide range of options to select from to students.

Message fromDr. Kapil GuptaChairman - CouncilBlueCrest College

D e a r C o l l e a g u e s a n d Students,

It gives me great pleasure to see the 2nd issue of OM u n f o l d i n g i t s e l f a s a remarkable newsletter. Truly, it is the culmination of efforts of both the staff and student fraternity who have made sure that this newsletter is both informative and entertaining at the same time, thereby making it a must-read for all. L i ke t he Co l l ege , t he newsletter represents quality and creativity at its best.

At BlueCrest College, we have diversified well during the last 14 years from a learning centre into a full-fledged university college with multiple locations. We have par tnered wi th leading universities and institutions l ike NI IT, iPED, iSPE, University of Education Winneba and University of Sunderland (UoS) to establish ourselves as the leading HE institution in the country. BlueCrest College draws upon the expertise of its partners and its motivated council and faculty members to educate and train the students of various career-oriented programs at the Diploma, undergraduate and masters level for the highly competitive local and global marketplace and act as an incubator for research and development.

While you enjoy reading this newsletter, the editorial team also seeks your valued contribution in future issues of the newsletter.

Launch of Master Programmes

Academic Bites from staff and students...

projects that will soon be prioritized based on complexity, risk, reward, resource availability, and the current needs of the organization. Project leaders will assess factors such as risk, reward and complexity of a project in determining which resources should be assigned to each project and the order in which the projects will be started.

New study reveals most important skills for studentsBy IDC & Microsoft

Six Sigma Overview

OPTIMUS MAXIMUS - May 2014 Page 3

This project presents the design and construction of a GSM based smart home system. The main aim of the system is to provide improved security, provide remote control access to appliances in the house and improve the efficient use of electricity by turning off some appliances when there is no one in the room and also turning on or off the outside lights during night and day respectively.When the system is armed you are given about fifteen seconds to leave the house, if after the specified time and you are still in the house, you will hear the device beeping. Then you will have to reset the system. When the system is armed and you enter, you are given about a fifteen seconds to reset it. If after the given time the reset button is not pressed, the alarm will go off. At the same time, the system will notify all the appropriate personals by sending a distress message through a short message service (SMS). An alarm will also sound to signal persons close by of a threat. The beauty of the system is that more than one person will be notified therefore making response quicker.This system will provide early warning to the user where there is a fire, smoke, gas leakage and the detection of an intruder at the premises where the system is installed. In the case of a gas leakage the system goes further to activate an extract or to evacuate gas from the enclosed area as a first aid remedy.The system can be improved by installing sprinkler in the case of a fire outbreak.This system can be installed in any building place where properties and human life is of great value such as hospitals, healthcare facilities, parking garages, precious storage areas, hostile environments, utility rooms, high voltage alternating current ducts and warehouses.

Academic Bites from staff and students...

This project titled Biometric Management System using Biometrics Fingerprint device is basically for maintaining attendance either in an Educational Institution or other Institution. Managing attendance during any session periods has become a difficult challenge. The ability to compute the attendance percentage becomes a major task as a manual process produces errors, and also it can be time consuming and stationeries resource intensive. For the stated reason, an efficient biometrics using biometrics equipment is proposed and designed. This system extracts biometrics template electronically with the help of an electronic finger print device and the records or template of the extraction is stored in a database.For the purpose of session record, an attendance is marked after identification or stored for authentication and authorization. This automated process however, eliminates the need for stationery materials and personnel for the keeping of records. Technologies used in the developing of this application are:

? MS Visual studio 2010? MS SQL Server 2010? Biometric Sensor? Feature Extractor Algorithm

Image processing over medical image is known as Biomedical Image Processing. Biomedical Image Processing is one of the emerging domains of research work in medical field. Medical image processing is the most effective tool for diagnostics, treatment planning and therapy. It creates a bridge between engineering and medical disciplines with a motivation to provide an overall enhancement of health care system. Digital image is divided into a matrix or array of small picture elements, or pixels. Each pixel is represented by a numerical value. The advantage of digital images is that they can be processed, in many ways, by computer systems. The processing of this digital image by digital computer by various image processing techniques produces output either as display or generates some numeric result. Biomedical image processing includes the analysis, enhancement and display of images captured via X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, nuclear medicine and optical imaging technologies. Biomedical imaging technologies utilize either X-rays (CT scans), sound (ultrasound), m a g n e t i s m ( M R I ) , r a d i o a c t i v e pharmaceuticals (nuclear medicine: SPECT, PET) or light (endoscopy, OCT) to assess the current condition of an organ or tissue and can monitor a patient over time over time for diagnostic and treatment evaluation. Medical imaging is the non-invasive visualization of internal organs, tissues, etc and processing of these images digitally helps us in gathering better information about the diseases related to any human organ. This information is used by doctors for better comprehension and diagnosis of diseases. In other words we can say Biomedical Image Processing makes the treatment procedure reliable, fast, cost effective and hassle free. Patients suffering from particular disease can determine the stage of the disease. It not only helps in monitoring the patient but also helps in taking precaution about any disease. These computerized developed techniques can be used at hospitals and even at remote areas where there is lack of enough number of doctors, trained technician and medical facility.

Project work, in the form of a substantial final year honours degree project, should be seen as the height of student achievement resulting from the several years of study on a degree programme. Unlike an examinable course, it represents a chance to develop a substantial piece of work, which draws on various subjects that have been previously studied, on newly acquired skills and on one's own personal experience. Students who work carefully and consistently on their project should not only be able to achieve a good mark at the end, but should also feel that they enjoyed the academic experience and that they produced a product of which they can be proud. As with any project, the key to the eventual success of a final year undergraduate project lies in the student's ability to formulate and then plan the project over its intended lifetime.The aim of this article is to present the project-related activities that are considered essential to the successful completion of an academic project.Managing Your Degree Project

A project will include a number of different activities that must be managed during the project lifetime. These activities must also be scheduled if they are to be completed in time to meet the submission deadline. With planning, we tend to assume that all will go to plan and nothing will go wrong. How often is this case though? A well-known maxim, often referred to as Murphy's Law, states that if anything can go wrong then it will go wrong. Extreme perhaps, but it does indicate the necessity for not only planning the project carefully but also for contingency planning in case anything should go wrong. Put all together, any project requires planning, management, and control.

The major characteristics of any project include two very important properties: a project has a duration and a project deadline that must be met if penalties are not to be incurred. Most computing degrees have modules that include the theory and (to some extent the practice) of project management, and the stages associated with the development of computer systems. Despite this, many students find it difficult to apply theory to practice when it comes to managing their own project. Rather than continuing to preach the virtues of carrying out proper principles of project management, it is probably more useful and instructive to point out where students come unstuck when they do not apply such principles. Experience of supervising student projects shows that some students (far too many) will:

start their project too late because they put off the seemingly laborious task of actually thinking about how to begin and about what they should be doing; orlspend too much time on the initial activities and therefore have to rush the later parts; orlspend a great deal of time thinking about their project but fail to actually complete any relevant tasks; orlput in a lot of frenzied effort that is in fact completely misdirected; orlstart off reasonably well but later come to a dead halt because they don't know where to go next with their project.

The source of most of these problems can be attributed to one thing: the lack of a project plan. The maxim 'if you can't plan it, you can't do it' is derived from practical experience. It can be more aptly restated perhaps as 'if you don't plan it, it is highly likely that you will not do it well!'

Project Planning

Having a project plan serves many useful purposes including:

providing you with a structured task, that if properly carried out, will give you the opportunity to really think through the details and activities of the project: it will help you to realise more clearly, the scope and feasibility of the project;presenting the opportunity to estimate carefully, how long each activity will take, and perhaps more importantly, how much time you have available to spend on any one task;presenting an early opportunity to discover tasks that might otherwise have been forgotten or only recognised at a later stage of the project;providing a basis for scheduling activities and monitoring your progress in carrying them out in a timely manner.After the project proposal has been accepted by the supervisor, a project plan should be formulated. When constructing a project plan, start by first identifying particular stages that are appropriate to your project. Any project may be considered to consist of the following generic stages (different names may be given to these in different textbooks): investigation, analysis, production, and implementation. For an academic project, we note that the investigation stage will include a literature review, and that there will be a further stage involving the writing-up of the project. We can compare these generic stages with the practically associated ones commonly ascribed to the traditional systems development lifecycle, which comprises the following basic stages: feasibility study, analysis, design, and implementation. You can then map out the set of activities and deliverables that comprise each stage defined. The completion of each stage would then represent a major project milestone. Remember that in your project proposal, you specified a set of high-level objects that comprised your project, together with related activities and deliverables for each objective. Your project plan should be tied in to the achievement of those objectives.Now that you know the type of things that should go into a project plan, you might consider next what techniques are available to you in creating and recording your plan. We can see from the above discussion that planning requires us to break up the project into workloads, starting perhaps with project stages that map onto major project milestones, and also identifying activities and scheduling these activities. Suitable project techniques that are well documented and which have computer-aided software to help carry them out include Work Breakdown Structures, Gantt Charts and PERT Diagrams. Discussing the use of these techniques will come at a later date however, let set ourselves some preliminary guidelines:

lidentify the main stages (and therefore milestones) of the project;lexpand each stage into smaller amounts of work;lidentify manageable chunks of work that can be achieved within 2 or 3 weeks;lstructure the project so that you can achieve some firm results as early as possible: this will give you confidence;

Summary

Projects are characterized with uncertainty and with the best-prepared plan, things can and will go wrong from time to time. Planning and managing an academic project (and any project for that matter) improves the chances of the project reaching its desired destination.

Featured Publication

Biometric Application SystemAhmed Faruk Monkwo – 3006212031 (BScIT)

OPTIMUS MAXIMUS - May 2014 Page 4

KYEI LORD AKWASI

DOVI KOMLANVI YONA

BANCE FATI MOHAMMED

KHALIL IBRAHIM ADAM

BAAH BENJAMIN

DELU AKIN YUSUF

ABOTSIGAH RICHARD

Fun Bites ...

3 drunken guys entered a taxi. The taxi driver knew that they were drunk so he started the car and turned it off again and then told them, “We have reached your destination”. The 1st guy gave him money and got down and the 2nd guy said “thank you.” The 3rd guy slapped the driver and this made the driver think the 3rd guy knew what he did. The driver then asked him why he slapped him and the guy replied, “Control your speed next time. You nearly killed us.

An old woman boarded a bus to Lagos from Calebar. She told the driver that he should tell her when they reach Benin and the driver nodded. Then shouted again: “my children, una hear wetin I tell am? Everyone responded YES ma.On the long journey to Lagos, everybody in the bus slept off but this woman never blinked. They didn't know she doesn't know Benin. After several hours of driving and Lagos close by with Benin 4hours behind, the poor woman then asked: driver, you never reach Benin? Ooooh!! The driver exclaimed; madam Benin is like 4hours behind us. The woman started crying “take me back to Benin abeg I don wan wahala o!! After all said and considering the age of the woman it was agreed that the driver should take turn back to Benin. On getting to Benin, the driver came down, opened the door and told the woman she was in Benin. The woman simply opened her handbag, brought out a card of panadol, removed 2 tablets and swallowed with water. She then smiled and said, na my daughter say if I reach Benin make I take 2 tablets of panadol. Oya make we dey go Lagos.

BlueCrest College's Tema Campus realizes the true value of balancing curriculum and fun. To take a refreshing break from studies, staff and students decided to go to Sajuna for a day long picnic.Tema Campus team's first halt was Hotel Continental where they had their lunch at the lake side while enjoying Mini Zoo surroundings. We arrived at Sajuna which was already abuzz with lots of activities due to weekend.A lot of students indulged in adventurous boat riding on the Volta Lake with incredible highlands. Students had a fun time listening and dancing to the tunes of

A sincere compliment is one of the most effective ways to motivate someone.

*****When you are angry, a great deal of energy is used up

and wasted. Use energy wisely

*****If knowledge is wealth, ask yourself; How wealthy am I?

*****When you smile, not only do you feel happy but you

bring a ray of light in to the lives of others.

*****The more love you give, the more you receive; the

more you have, the easier it becomes to give. *****

popular chartbusters and clicking pictures at the lake side. In order to beat the heat, some students and staff members took dip in the swimming pool. The Football enthusiasts played a quick game and the atmosphere turned sporty with cheers and roars.The fun filled journey came to an end but with a very strong resolution to have another picnic soon. The group had very exciting and memorable day. Deborah Poto - "In general, I think the trip was great, I made new friends, everyone was happy. In fact, I felt like I was with my family.”Amadu Hummul Hairah - "I had fun when I went to the trip because it was my first trip in Akosombo. The places were very nice and I enjoyed the boat ride”

IT IS POSSIBLE

In everything, try your best to leave a MARK!!

Trying to make a MARK?? Don't forget, there will be mistakes

but remember you can always CORRECT these mistakes

Don't let your FAILURES pull you down

rather, let them motivate you to make SUCCESS your portion

Believe in your own aspirationand bring them to reality

Life is always a SMOOTH road

but you have the POWER to make it roughchoices made in life determines the type of road

you travel upon. God has shown you the paths, butyou choose the lane you want to GO!.

Everything is possible, by just your will

Place your "all" into anything/everythingand it's going to be made possible.

Nothing comes easy, but with

HARDWORKDETERMINATION, PERSEVERANCE, STRONG

WILL & SACRIFICE(HDPSS)

IT'S VERY POSSIBLE!!!

Formula for SuccessGODSuccess = (HDPSS)

YOU CAN DO IT By Felix Aryee Aryetey (BScIT)

Look for the 12 words at the bottom of this page

MILLENNIUM, GOALS, POLICY, PREGNANT, POVERTY, ALLY, CURIOUS, MIND, POWER, DEVELOPED, HEALTH, HIV, URBAN, RURAL, SAVE, SIP, TOY, LEO, PEEP, NATIONS

GAISEY GLOVER NANA ESIBscIT Sem. 3

Jokes Corner

OPTIMUS MAXIMUS - May 2014 Page 5

There is an abundant importance of games and sports in a student's life. Sports inculcate spirit of sportsmanship, team work and leadership. BlueCrest College realizes true value of these qualities and believes in striking a strong balance between curriculum and fun. Keeping this point in view, our college participated in a one day inter-college/university sports event “Soccer and Basketball Fiesta 2013” on 5th October, 2013 at Lizzy Sports Complex, Accra.This event led to the formation of our Basketball and Soccer Team. The selection committee had toughest time deciding upon the players for the team because of the sheer talent displayed by every sport enthusiastic students. But with their experience they were able to hand pick the best for the competition. On the day of the event, stadium was totally packed with each team having a tremendous support. The atmosphere was abuzz with music, fun and cheer. Our team demonstrated the remarkable skills while playing against the experienced teams of other universities and giving them the toughest competition. It was an incredible event played with great competitive spirit and sportsmanship. The event ended with a strong determination of better performance in coming competitions.

Industrial Visit by Oil & Gas students to JTTC & Takoradi Polytechnic, Takoradi

Fresher’s Day2012

BlueCrest College organized an Industrial Visit for its students of Diploma in Oil & Gas Management from Faculty of Energy Management to Jubilee Technical Training Centre (JTTC), Takoradi Polytechnic, Takoradi on 28th March'2014. 40 Students participated in this training program under the supervision of Head of the Department Dr. Edem Adjabeng. The Jubilee Technical Training Centre (JTTC) is a public-private initiative aimed at addressing the skill gaps in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) for Industry. The centre is fully equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and modern facilities.

Mr. Matthew Kweku Gyan, Centre Manager, JTTC oriented the students on aspects of health and safety. He also informed about handling problems associated with the flow of fluids through pipes, open channels, and all kinds of flow dynamics. Our students were also educated about the skills acquired in the fields of hydraulic turbines, dams, jet propulsion, compressors, pumps & hydraulic pressures, using water and/or other liquids.

Students were excited to see the practical demonstration in the workshop which will surely enable their chances of gaining employment in the budding oil and gas industry.

OPTIMUS MAXIMUS - May 2014 Page 6

Vocational Streams

Qualification

Science

Drilling

Engineering

Operation

Maintenance

Business

Prerequisite

(Semi-skilled)

Jug Hustler

Roustabout

Trades Assistant

Field Support Operator

Store person

Account Clerk

Certificate (Skilled)

Laboratory

Worker

Driller

Boiler Marker / Welder

Control Room Operator or Plant Technician

Mechanic/ Fitter

House Officer

Graduate Diploma

(Technician)

Geoscience

Technician

Tool Pusher

Electronic Technician

Production Schedule &

Operations Team Leader

Maintenance

Planner

Training Officer

Degree Bachelors Masters Doctorate (Professional)

Geologist / Geophysicist

Drilling Engineer

Chemical Electrical, Mechanical, Process Engineers

Production Engineer process Engineer

Maintenance Engineer

Public Relations Officer, Suppliers.

OPTIMUS MAXIMUS - May 2014 Page 7

OPTIMUS MAXIMUS - May 2014 Page 8

Testimonials

“I am grateful for the need that NIIT Ghana (now BlueCrest College), fulfilled in my life. The excellence of our faculty, the strength of our research programs, and our commitment to the education of future generations of leaders have placed the institution at the forefront of ICT training and education in Ghana.”

I am currently an Information Systems/Bank Examiner at the Central Bank of Ghana. On a daily basis, I must apply various aspects of technology and theory and use some techniques that I learned during my time at NIIT Ghana to fulfill my supervisory responsibilities.I wholeheartedly endorse NIIT Ghana (now BlueCrest College) and everything for which it stands.”

“BlueCrest College gave me a high calibre education in a personalized atmosphere. The staff is truly committed and never once have I doubted the choice of attending BlueCrest College.Not only did the school prepare me for the business world in IT, but I gained self-responsibility and personal empowerment.”

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