Masdar hires first batch of professors
Masdar hires first batch of professors
Bradley Hope
Last Updated: July 02. 2008 11:50PM UAE / July 2. 2008 7:50PM GMT
ABU DHABI // The capital’s plan to become a centre of alternative energy innovation is a step closer, with 24 professors now hired to conduct research and teach at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST).
The institute is also jumping ahead of schedule and bringing 20 graduate students to the programme in the autumn to assist with research.
“We wanted to test the market and see what kind of interest we could get from students,” said Fred Moavenzadeh, a professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is helping to co-ordinate the programme. “We have already received 75 applications without advertising anywhere.”
The private, non-profit MIST will be the first part of Masdar City, a zero-carbon emissions development, to be constructed in 2009 – in time for the inaugural class.
In the coming week, Masdar will begin putting advertisements in publications around the Middle East to solicit applications for another 50 faculty positions to be filled before the start of the new school year in autumn 2009.
The first hires include a cast of top engineering and environmental design experts from around the world. They have degrees in specialities such as building technology, artificial intelligence and risk management, but many have also worked in the private sector. A key goal of MIST is not just to produce valuable research, but models and technologies that can work in the marketplace and help to transform Abu Dhabi from a petroleum-based economy to a sustainable energy economy.
“These professors will be developing everything from technology to intellectual property rights to transform this economy,” Dr Moavenzadeh said. “They will be the manpower that will help enable this change.”
The idea for the institute predates the plan for Masdar City, which is perhaps the better-known project. MIT first started a partnership with Mubadala Development, the parent company of Masdar, three years ago to begin putting together the plans.
Dr Moavenzadeh – who is a professor of systems engineering and the director of MIT’s Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development – is leading the team at MIT that is advising on MIST’s research objectives, university structure and hiring.
In addition to the initial group of 20 students coming this autumn, he said the professors were considering offering short courses and conferences on sustainability for local industry and government organisations. The target size of the university in 10 years is 150 faculty members and about 800 graduate students, all working and some living in Masdar City. So far, 75 students have applied to MIST, despite the fact that the institute has not officially started recruiting.
“Eight of them outright qualified,” Dr Moavenzadeh said. “Another 30, we are waiting for the results of their exams.”
He said 20 applications came from universities in the UAE.
“We were very pleased that the majority were female,” he said. “The fact that there is so much interest in these technologies is rare.”
The rise of MIST is part of a wider resurgence of academia and research in the GCC countries. Universities are rising in Dubai, Qatar and Kuwait, where governments are using oil and financial services revenue to develop knowledge-based economies to ensure economic viability in the future.
bhope@thenational.ae
Adnoc diesel card to ease congestion
Adnoc diesel card to ease congestion
Haneen Dajani and Matthew Chung
Last Updated: July 12. 2008 10:32PM UAE / July 12. 2008 6:32PM GMT
ABU DHABI // Only motorists with a pre-paid card will be allowed to buy diesel at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) stations, allowing the company to better control sales, it announced yesterday.
In addition to requiring customers filling up with diesel to use a Rahal card issued by the company, Adnoc said it had begun to restrict sales of the fuel for heavy vehicles to certain times of the day, increased the number of diesel pumps at some stations, and made stations on motorways outside the city centre specialise in supplying diesel to cut down on traffic congestion at its stations.
Lorry drivers have been flocking to Adnoc stations as its competitors, who buy at international market rates, have more than doubled their diesel prices.
The company did not say when it would stop serving customers who did not have a Rahal card. The announcement comes about a week after traffic police in the capital asked the company to introduce new procedures to ease congestion near its pumps because of an increase in accidents. A report by the Abu Dhabi Traffic and Patrols Department, viewed by The National, recommended that diesel not be sold to lorries and buses on the island between 7am and 9am, 1pm and 3pm, and 6pm and 9pm.
The Rahal cards are linked to the company’s main headquarters through an electronic system that will define how much diesel is required for each consumer.
Some drivers have said that they had purchased diesel from other drivers who were filling up beyond their needs and then reselling the fuel at a higher price.
Rahal cards will be issued at Adnoc’s main head quarters in Abu Dhabi and its offices in Al Ain, Western Region and Sharjah.
Diesel sales at many stations on Abu Dhabi Island had ceased, along with other services such as car washes and oil changes at some stations, to provide more space for fuel pumps, the company said.
Adnoc stations have been inundated with heavy vehicles since the price of diesel began to increase at Emirates National Oil Company (Enoc), and Emarat and Emirates Petroleum Products Company (Eppco) stations in Dubai and the northern Emirates.
Prices have reached Dh19.25 (US$5.24) per gallon, while Adnoc continues to sell diesel for Dh8.60 per gallon. Drivers say they spend hours waiting to buy a limited amount of fuel, and at stations selling diesel and petrol inside the island, traffic has been blocked by the long queues. Adnoc’s 49 petrol stations in the emirates of Sharjah, Ajman, Ras al Khaimah, Umm al Qaiwain and Fujairah are also seeing high levels of traffic. Adnoc stations in the northern Emirates stopped sales of diesel to lorries with Dubai licence plates last month, and police have been handing out fines to vehicles queuing in Sharjah.
The rise in the price of diesel has contributed to inflation by pushing up the cost of transporting food and daily commodities. Adnoc has more than 180 stations throughout the country and has plans to build more stations and expand its existing ones.
hdajani@thenational.ae mchung@thenational.ae
Cancer centre to open in UAE
Cancer centre to open in UAE
Alison McMeans and Tala al Ramahi
Last Updated: July 12. 2008 11:48PM UAE / July 12. 2008 7:48PM GMT
ABU DHABI // A research centre dedicated to fighting one of the biggest killers in the region is to be opened in the UAE, says the Ministry of Health.
The plan was outlined to health professionals at a GCC meeting last month by Dr Mona al Kawari from the ministry, but was revealed publicly only yesterday.
The health officials had come together from across the region to discuss the effects of cancer in their countries and the directives being undertaken to combat the disease.
The centre will collect information across the country in an attempt to find ways to combat the disease, and will focus on prevention as well as treatment.
“We are in the process of setting up a unified cancer centre,” said Dr Mona al Kawari from the MoH. “We will announce the final decision in October.”
The centre would be under the supervision of the health authorities of the different emirates, she added.
Between 1998 and 2002, 41,475 GCC nationals were diagnosed with cancer, according to GCC statistics. Cancer rates are on the rise in the UAE and in many cases late diagnosis and treatment lead to medical complications and death.
Breast cancer is one of the biggest killers of women in the UAE and is often diagnosed during later stages of the disease.
Dr Adel Anis Hajj, the head of oncology at Cedars Jebel Ali International Hospital said: “The idea is fantastic,” he said.
“It is not only important for the UAE, but it is important for every country. Cancer is a burden and our knowledge of treatment is developing.”
Combining information and expertise would have positive effects on the study of the disease, he said.
“The UAE, as well as any other country, especially in this part of the world, is in need of serious research projects, activities and better acknowledgement of what is going on in our country.”
He said researchers needed to find out what were the most common cancers, what the risk factors related to those cancers were and how awareness campaigns could be adapted to make more people aware of them.
The most common cancers, he said, were breast cancer and prostate cancer, and colorectal and skin cancers.
The cancer centre is likely to fall under the new National Health Council, announced last week to unify public and private health policies. Part of its mandate is to establish centres of excellence that focus on research and education.
* The National
Which credit card debt will you pay off first?
Which credit card debt will you pay off first?
Bloomberg Published: July 11, 2008, 23:29
You’ve charged it up – now it’s pay-down time. If you’re up to your eyeballs in credit card and other debt, paying the minimums and little else, it’s time to get serious.
The best way to get rid of debt, experts agree, is to attack the balance with the highest annual percentage rate first. When that one is paid off, move onto the debt with the next-highest interest rate.
But always attack that high-interest debt first.
On that debt, you want to “double, triple, quadruple minimum payments,” says Howard S. Dvorkin, president and founder of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, Florida. “When you’re done with that one, move on to the next one.”
Linda Sherry, editorial director with Consumer Action, a consumer advocacy group in San Francisco, agrees: Size up bills by interest rates rather than the amount of the balance.
“The amount you owe doesn’t really matter when you’re paying an enormous amount of interest,” Sherry said. “Try to pay the highest interest rate ones first. Muster all the funds available and get the debt out of your life.”
An alternative plan: What about knocking off some low-balance bills first and eliminating a bill or two from that thick monthly pile?
Experts respond: Go ahead, especially if it will give you the boost you need to stick with a pay-down plan.
“It makes better financial sense to pay down the highest interest rate first. But people get discouraged. So they knock down lower balances first,” says Steve Rhode, co-founder of financial services organisation Myvesta.
“It’s a lot more gratifying for some people to pay off the smaller balances within a couple months. (They) feel like they’re making more progress.”
But once those smaller balances are gone, he says, go back to Plan A: Take the money that had been set aside to pay those bills and apply it to the balance with the highest interest rate. “Muster all the funds available and get the debt out of your life,” Rhode says.
Stick to your plan: The key to an effective pay-down plan is sticking with it. Don’t let up on the monthly payments as the card’s minimum payments inch down and as bills get paid off.
“Once you establish a payment plan with a credit card bill, stick with the payments until it’s gone and then roll it into another credit card and keep going,” says Christine Jones, a counsellor with American Credit Counseling Service, Florida.
Unfortunately, many people quit before they get started. “The problem I see is that people make mental promises to themselves that they can’t keep,” says the DCA’s Rhode.
“They say they will pay $100 a month but it’s too big a stretch. They can’t do it and then they forget about it.”
Think before you act: To avoid falling into that trap, take a hard look at your finances and determine how much you can realistically afford to pay each month.
Rhode suggests that people track their spending every day for a month to get a firm handle on where their money is actually going.
“People will save 20 per cent just writing down where their money goes,” he says. “Because they will start cutting back.”
After tracking their spending, people can better decide how much they can afford to pay toward credit card debt. Experts say just $50 more a month can make a big difference.
Try these tips for saving $50 a month: Have movies and popcorn at home instead of going out. Use coupons for groceries and buy store brands.
Make pizza at home instead of ordering out. Buy in bulk and freeze dinner entrees. Give handmade cards and gifts. Shop at consignment, thrift and discount stores.
Pay more than the minimum. Once you start paying more than the minimum, the debts start to disappear.
It is also important to keep in mind that debt is not always bad. “Having a certain amount of credit balance is not negative,” Consumer Action’s Sherry says.
“Some debt is necessary to reach goals.” But most experts recommend that debt payments including car payments and credit cards eat up no more than 10 to 15 per cent of income. More could spell trouble.
AD Municipality, MoL to implement new safety standards
AD Municipality, MoL to implement new safety standards
By Ahmed Abdul Aziz (Staff reporter / KHALEEJ TIMES) 13 July 2008
ABU DHABI – The Abu Dhabi Municipality recently organised a one-day workshop on the occupational health and safety standards for representatives of more than 30 contracting companies in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, according to a senior official at the municipality.
‘The workshop aimed at completing a survey on the work sites to ensure implementing the safety measures to save the workers’ lives and protect their health,’ said Ibrahim H. Baqer, Director of Safety and Quality Department at the municipality.
Baqer told Khaleej Times that the Head of Occupational Safety and Health at the Ministry of Labour (MoL) and directors from 31 leading construction and contracting companies in the emirate attended the workshop.
He added the efforts on improving the safety standards in the emirate are in line with the Abu Dhabi 2030 strategy.
Tom Banies, Senior Health and Safety Engineer (HSE) at the municipality, said, ‘The aim of the survey is to understand how you can manage the entities to ensure the safety at the companies and to create a tool to manage the work environment.’
Twenty teams, each having three HSEs, would conduct the survey at the sites. The survey’s results would be available by the end of August this year.
Meanwhile, sources at the MoL affirmed that the Abu Dhabi’s Occupational Safety and Health Office will add the new suggested evaluation items to the inspection sheets.
More than 50 items have been identified for evaluation to implement the new safety standards.
They include site offices and welfare, fire precautions and evacuation, safe working on roofs, employers’ liability insurance compensation certificate, designers’ workplace hazards and risks assessment, pre-construction information and phase plan, highway traffic management, first aid specialists and noise level at the work site.
Livelihood regulations documented
Livelihood regulations documented
Saturday July 12 2008 11:13 IST Sudha Nambudiri for EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOCHI
KOCHI: Did you know that small food courts, mobile vendors and cobblers in Kochi are not issued licence?
Your neighbourhood mobile vegetable and fruit vendors do not have licence to sell. This was revealed in a study conducted by the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) and the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) under a ‘Law, Liberty and Livelihood’ project.
The study, which was aimed at documenting the livelihood regulations and barriers in the informal sector, was conducted in 63 cities across the country where the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)is being implemented.
“The purpose was to unveil the laws applicable to entry-level professions like mobile and stationary street vendors and to document them, thereby drawing public attention to the issues faced by the entry- level professions,” said Dhanraj, CPPR coordinator.
The study is funded by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT), Mumbai. The outcome of the research project is easy-to-navigate website http://www.cppr.in or http://www.ccs.in on the rules and regulations in five informal sectors, including cycle rickshaws, autos and shops like meat or barber shops in these cities.
According to the Kerala Municipality Act, a person who enters a trade or any other business in streets has to get permission from the secretary of the Corporation in advance of 30 days (D and O Schedule M O H 12/10013/94). At present, no licence is being given to fruit sellers.
In Kochi, the licence is regulated by the Corporation under the purview of the Kerala Municipalities Act and Rules 1994. It issues two types of licences, namely, dangerous and offensive trade licence and prevention of food adulteration licence.
The fee is fixed by the council. “If you are a late eater, it’s wise that you grab your manna early as it is mandatory that all shops close at 10 pm,” said Caroline C who coordinated the study.
No restaurant or eating-house will be opened between 10 pm. and 5 am. Hotels, bakery, sweets and meat shops require both licences.
Photo Speaks – Newly opened Public Beach at Abu Dhabi Corniche
Photo Speaks – Newly opened Public Beach at Abu Dhabi Corniche
Women’s Day Out
Women’s Day Out
Friday July 11 2008 10:29 IST Express Features
It’s a women’s-only musical extravaganza that is sure to rock the city.
Organised by Livejam, a social and non profit organisation committed to imparting rays of hope to a generation that is hurt due to the after effects of broken homes, drugs and alcohol, they have a variety of events planned out for women.
Urban youth is their primary focus. It will be an avenue for women to relax, take a break and enjoy themselves with their girlfriends, and also socialise with other women in the city.
Women’s Day Out is being organised in Kerala for the first time and the objective is to prepare and empower women. It is a direct result of their research into the lives of women who are more into multitasking than their male counterparts, handling home, family, kids, career and all at one go.
The highlight of the event is a live concert by Kontagious, a six-member band from Chennai. They will set the floor on fire with their Bollywood numbers.
A talk by former Miss Teen Washington and the third runner-up at the Miss Teen America event Sungeetha Jain is on the cards. A motivational speaker of international repute, she has spoken at several conferences and women’s events in India and abroad.
Sungeetha is the first woman in the world on a wheelchair to have won a beauty pageant in 1993 competing against normal, healthy and mobile women. She met with a terrible accident at the age of 10 that left her crippled.
She is a woman with an inspirational life-story, a saga of never knowing when to give up, but rising above all odds and obstacles in life to become a success story.
Livejam has a variety of events planned out for the women in Kochi. Their primary focus is to evolve a women’s forum to better the life of women in the city by addressing practical problems and issues of daily life.
They also provide a platform to encourage and promote budding musicians and artists. The two-hour cultural extravaganza will be held at AJ Hall, Kaloor, on Saturday from 5.30 pm to 8.30 pm. Entry through invites only.
For details, call 9287341146, 9447154264.
France’s Total suspends its investment in Iran
France’s Total suspends its investment in Iran
Tamsin Carlisle for THE NATIONAL Last Updated: July 10. 2008
Total, the French energy company, has suspended investment in Iran over concerns about rising political risk, but is still targeting long-term involvement in the country’s oil and gas sector.
“We cannot invest in Iran for the moment, but Iran remains a priority country, and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) is a long-term partner for us,” Lisa Wyler, a company spokesman, said yesterday.
The announcement, a day after Iran test-fired a series of missiles following weeks of mounting tensions with the US and Israel over its nuclear ambitions, casts fresh doubt on the Islamic Republic’s ability to develop a supply of gas for export from its vast South Pars offshore gasfield.
Total has a memorandum of understanding with NIOC to develop phase 11 of South Pars, a giant Gulf project being developed in 25 stages. But in comments to the Financial Times newspaper in the UK, Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of Total, said it was too risky for the company to invest in Iran in the current political environment.
Total, which helped develop an earlier phase of South Pars, had previously said it saw short-term difficulties in reaching a deal for phase 11. Iran had been urging the company to commit to an agreement by the middle of the year.
In May, faced with similar pressure to sign contracts, Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company, and Repsol, the Spanish energy concern, pulled the plug on plans to develop phase 13 of South Pars, which had been slated to supply proposed Iranian gas liquefaction facilities. Iran said it would postpone that development and would instead accelerate some other stages of the project.
All three European countries had also received advice from their respective governments to curtail investment in Iran in order to support UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic over its controversial nuclear programme.
The US believes Iran’s insistence on pursuing uranium enrichment indicates that the Gulf state has covert plans to develop nuclear weapons. It has recently stepped up its rhetoric, urging its European allies to back efforts to isolate the Islamic Republic.
Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, said the UK would have “no choice but to intensify sanctions” against Iran if the county continued to defy UN resolutions calling for it to suspend nuclear enrichment. “Britain will urge Europe, and Europe will agree to take further sanctions against Iran,” he said on Monday.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful, but has rejected UN-mediated offers of Western nuclear technology if it shutters its enrichment programme.
The Gulf state, long seen as a potential gas exporter to Asian and European markets, holds the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves after Russia. However, its net gas exports are negligible.
Meanwhile, Qatar has developed the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) export business based on gas production from its offshore North Dome gas field, contiguous with South Pars. Together, the Qatari and Iranian fields form the world’s biggest single hydrocarbon deposit. Gholamhossein Nozari, the Iranian oil minister, said Total’s decision would not derail Iran’s gas development plans. “This is our message: we will proceed with development with or without them,” he said.
Still, analysts doubt that Iran could build functional LNG facilities without access to proprietary technology held by a handful of Western oil companies.
Total was the last such company to consider investing in South Pars.
Other European energy companies still operating in Iran include Italy’s Eni and Norway’s StatoilHydro.
Statoil, which is well advanced in the development of South Pars phases six, seven and eight, to supply gas for reinjection into ageing Iranian oil fields, said yesterday it would complete its contracts.
Eni said it did not plan new investments in Iran.
That has left Iran heavily dependent on non-Western energy partners – including the Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom, and the Malaysian state-owned Petronas Gas – to help it develop South Pars and other big energy projects. But these companies are technologically outclassed by their Western rivals, analysts said.
Politics may not be the only factor that has led the West to pull out of Iran’s energy sector. The “buyback” contracts favoured by Iran for energy development provide scant financial incentives for foreign partners.
tcarlisle@thenational.ae
CA institute to start new course for `Accounting Technician’
CA institute to start new course for `Accounting Technician’
Mumbai, Jul 9 : The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is planning to introduce a second tier qualification called, `Accounting Technician’, to meet the large demand for accountants in the country.
Dhiraj Khandelwal, Secretary, ICAI (western region) said the proposal is currently under consideration of the Corporate Affairs Ministry and the institute is hopeful of getting permission to start the new course in a couple of months. The new course will have a duration of two years .
He said the demand for accountants in the country is huge and the introduction of the new course will help meet that demand.
Those wanting to join the course will need to appear for the entrance examination similar to the regular CA course. Students who would complete one year articleship and pass one group will be given the certificate of Accounting Technician.
Khandelwal said he is expecting a good response for the course with at least 4 to 5 lakh students appearing for the entrance examination.
ClicksandWrites 
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