Wednesday, 20 July 2011

M.B.B.S

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, or in Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae (abbreviated in various ways, viz. "BMBS", MB BChir, BM BCh, MB BCh, MB ChB, MB BS, BM, BMed, MBBS etc.), are the two first professional degrees awarded upon graduation from medical school in medicine and surgery by universities in various countries that follow the tradition of the United Kingdom. The naming suggests that they are two separate degrees; however, in practice, they are usually treated as one and awarded together. Usually, students who have graduated with a "Bachelor of Medicine" degree may also practice surgery, because it is equivalent to the "Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery" degree.

Tuesday, 19 July 2011

The Business and Technology Education Council

The Business and Technology Education Council is the British body which awards vocational qualifications. Such qualifications are commonly referred to as "BTECs".

BTEC qualifications are undertaken in vocational subjects ranging from Business studies to Engineering and even Animal Care. They are equivalent to other qualifications such as the GCSE (levels 1 to 2), A Level (level 3) and university degrees (levels 4 to 6).

BTEC was formed in 1984 from the Business Education Council (BEC) and the Technician Education Council (TEC).[1] In 1996, University of London Examinations & Assessment Council (ULEAC) and BTEC merged to form Edexcel.

Examples of BTEC courses include Health & Social Care, Business Studies, Engineering, Science, Information Technology, Media Studies, Travel & Tourism and Performing Arts.

Awards system
BTEC Introductory Certificate - Level 1 qualification, roughly equivalent to 2 GCSEs at D-E grades.
BTEC Introductory Diploma - Level 1 qualification, roughly equivalent to 4 GCSEs at D-F grades or a Foundation GNVQ.
BTEC First Certificate - Level 2 qualification, roughly equivalent to 2 GCSEs at A* - C grades
BTEC First Diploma - Level 2 qualification, roughly equivalent to 4 GCSEs at A* - C grades or an Intermediate GNVQ.
BTEC National Award - Level 3 qualification, roughly equivalent to 1 A level.
BTEC National Certificate - Level 3 qualification, roughly equivalent to 2 A levels.
BTEC National Diploma - Level 3 qualification, roughly equivalent to 3 A levels.
BTEC Foundation Diploma in Art and Design
BTEC Higher National Certificate
BTEC Higher National Diploma

Monday, 18 July 2011

Instrumentation Engineering

Instrumentation is defined as the art and science of measurement and control.

An instrument is a device that measures and/or regulates process variables such as flow, temperature, level, or pressure. Instruments include many varied contrivances that can be as simple as valves and transmitters, and as complex as analyzers. Instruments often comprise control systems of varied processes such as refineries, factories, and vehicles. The control of processes is one of the main branches of applied instrumentation. Instrumentation can also refer to handheld devices that measure some desired variable. Diverse handheld instrumentation is common in laboratories, but can be found in the household as well. For example, a smoke detector is a common instrument found in most western homes.

Output instrumentation includes devices such as solenoids, valves, regulators, circuit breakers, and relays. These devices control a desired output variable, and provide either remote or automated control capabilities. These are often referred to as final control elements when controlled remotely or by a control system.

Transmitters are devices that produce an output signal, often in the form of a 4–20 mA electrical current signal, although many other options using voltage, frequency, pressure, or ethernet are possible. This signal can be used for informational purposes, or it can be sent to a PLC, DCS, SCADA system, LabView or other type of computerized controller, where it can be interpreted into readable values and used to control other devices and processes in the system.

Control Instrumentation plays a significant role in both gathering information from the field and changing the field parameters, and as such are a key part of control loops.

Sunday, 17 July 2011

Petroleum Engineering

Petroleum engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Subsurface activities are deemed to fall within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry, which are the activities of finding and producing hydrocarbons. Refining and distribution to a market are referred to as the downstream sector. Exploration, by earth scientists, and petroleum engineering are the oil and gas industry's two main subsurface disciplines, which focus on maximizing economic recovery of hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs. Petroleum geology and geophysics focus on provision of a static description of the hydrocarbon reservoir rock, while petroleum engineering focuses on estimation of the recoverable volume of this resource using a detailed understanding of the physical behavior of oil, water and gas within porous rock at very high pressure.

The combined efforts of geologists and petroleum engineers throughout the life of a hydrocarbon accumulation determine the way in which a reservoir is developed and depleted, and usually they have the highest impact on field economics. Petroleum engineering requires a good knowledge of many other related disciplines, such as geophysics, petroleum geology, formation evaluation (well logging), drilling, economics, reservoir simulation, well engineering, artificial lift systems, and oil and gas facilities engineering.

Petroleum engineering has historically been one of the highest paid engineering disciplines; this is offset by a tendency for mass layoffs when oil prices decline. In a June 4th, 2007 article, Forbes.com reported that petroleum engineering was the 24th best paying job in the United States.[1] The 2010 National Association of Colleges and Employers survey showed petroleum engineers as the highest paid 2010 graduates at an average $125,220 annual salary.[2] For individuals with experience, salaries can go from $170,000 to $260,000 annually.

Overview

Petroleum engineering has become a technical profession that involves extracting oil in increasingly difficult situations as much of the "low hanging fruit" of the world's oil fields has been found and depleted. Improvements in computer modeling, materials and the application of statistics, probability analysis, and new technologies like horizontal drilling and enhanced oil recovery, have drastically improved the toolbox of the petroleum engineer in recent decades.

Deep-water, arctic and desert conditions are commonly contended with. High Temperature and High Pressure (HTHP) environments have become increasingly commonplace in operations and require the petroleum engineer to be savvy in topics as wide ranging as thermo-hydraulics, geomechanics, and intelligent systems.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is the largest professional society for petroleum engineers and publishes much information concerning the industry. Petroleum engineering education is available at 17 universities in the United States and many more throughout the world - primarily in oil producing regions - and some oil companies have considerable in-house petroleum engineering training classes.
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Types

Petroleum engineers divide themselves into several types:
Reservoir engineers work to optimize production of oil and gas via proper well placement, production levels, and enhanced oil recovery techniques.
Drilling engineers manage the technical aspects of drilling exploratory, production and injection wells.
Production engineers, including subsurface engineers, manage the interface between the reservoir and the well, including perforations, sand control, downhole flow control, and downhole monitoring equipment; evaluate artificial lift methods; and also select surface equipment that separates the produced fluids (oil, natural gas, and water).
Mud engineers (correctly called Drilling Fluids Engineers, but often referred to as "Mud Men") work on an oil well or gas well drilling rig, and are responsible for ensuring that the properties of the drilling fluid, also known as drilling mud, are within design specifications. In lieu of a degree in petroleum engineering, mud engineers may have degrees in related fields such as chemistry or geology.

Saturday, 16 July 2011

Bachelor of Business Administration

The Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in Commerce and business administration. In most universities, the degree is conferred upon a student after four years of full-time study (120 credit hours) in one or more areas of business concentrations; see below. The BBA program usually includes general business courses and advanced courses for specific concentrations. Alternative degree titles include Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA), Bachelor in Management and Organizational Studies, Bachelor in Management Studies (BMS), Bachelor of Business Management (BBM)and Bachelor of Business Studies (BBS).
Program content

The degree [1] is designed to give a broad knowledge of the functional areas of a company, and their interconnection, while also allowing for specialization in a particular area. BBA programs thus expose students to a variety of "core subjects", and, as above, allow students to specialize in a specific academic area; see MBA program content. The degree also develops the student's practical managerial skills, communication skills and business decision-making capability. Many programs thus incorporate training and practical experience, in the form of case studies, projects, presentations, internships, industrial visits, and interaction with experts from the industry. For a comparison with other undergraduate degrees in business and management, see further under Bachelor's degree.

The core topics usually comprise:accounting
business law and ethics
economics financial management
human resource management
information technology marketing
operations management
organizational behavior quantitative techniques (business statistics, financial mathematics, operations research)
strategic management


The specializations include:Accounting
Entrepreneurship
Finance
Real Estate Human Resource Management
International Business
Legal Management Management
Management information systems
Marketing Operations management
Supply chain management
Tourism management

Accreditation

Particularly in the U.S., undergraduate Business Administration programs may be accredited, thus indicating that the school's educational curriculum meets specific quality standards; see Accreditation under MBA.

Friday, 15 July 2011

Automotive Enginerring

Modern automotive engineering, along with aerospace engineering and marine engineering, is a branch of vehicle engineering, incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufacture and operation of motorcycles, automobiles, buses and trucks and their respective engineering subsystems.

Product Engineering

Some of the engineering attributes/disciplines that are of importance to the automotive engineer:

Safe Engineering: Safety Engineering is the assessment of various crash scenarios and their impact on the vehicle occupants. These are tested against very stringent governmental regulations. Some of these requirements include: Seat belt and air bag functionality. Front and side crash worthiness. Resistance to rollover. Assessments are done with various methods and tools: Computer crash simulation, crash test dummies, partial system sled and full vehicle crashes.

Fuel Economy/Emissions: Fuel economy is the measured fuel efficiency of the vehicle in miles per gallon or litres per 100 kilometers. Emissions testing the measurement of the vehicles emissions: hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and evaporative emissions.

Vehicle Dynamics: Vehicle dynamics is the vehicle's response of the following attributes: ride, handling, steering, braking, and traction. Design of the chassis systems of suspension, steering, braking, structure (frame), wheels and tires, and traction control are highly leveraged by the Vehicle Dynamics engineer to deliver the Vehicle Dynamics qualities desired.

NVH Engineering (Noise, Vibration, and Harshness): NVH is the customer's impression both tactile (feel) and audible (hear) feedback from the vehicle. While sound can be interpreted as a rattle, squeal, or hoot, a tactile response can be seat vibration, or a buzz in the steering wheel. This feedback is generated by components either rubbing, vibrating or rotating. NVH response can be classified in various ways: powertrain NVH, road noise, wind noise, component noise, and squeak and rattle. Note, there are both good and bad NVH qualities. The NVH engineer works to either eliminate bad NVH, or change the “bad NVH” to good (i.e., exhaust tones).

Performance: Performance is a measurable and testable value of a vehicles ability to perform in various conditions. Performance can be considered in a wide variety of tasks, but it's generally associated with how quickly a car can accelerate (i.e. 0-60 mph, 1/4 mile, trap speed, top speed, etc), how short and quickly a car can come to a complete stop from a set distance (i.e. 70-0 mph), how many g-forces a car can generate without losing grip, figure 8, recorded trap lap times, cornering speed, brake fade, etc. Performance can also reflect the amount of control in inclement weather (snow, ice, rain).

Shift Quality: Shift Quality is the driver’s perception of the vehicle to an automatic transmission banana event. This is influenced by the powertrain (engine, transmission), and the vehicle (driveline, suspension, etc). Shift feel is both a tactile (feel) and audible (hear) response of the vehicle. Shift Quality is experienced as various events: Transmission shifts are felt as an upshift at acceleration (1-2), or a downshift maneuver in passing (4-2). Shift engagements of the vehicle are also evaluated, as in Park to Reverse, etc.

Durability / Corrosion engineering: Durability and Corrosion engineering is the evaluation testing of a vehicle for its useful life. This includes mileage accumulation, severe driving conditions, and corrosive salt baths.

Package / Ergonomics Engineering: Package Engineering is a discipline that designs/analyzes the occupant accommodations (seat roominess), ingress/egress to the vehicle, and the driver’s field of vision (gauges and windows). The Package Engineer is also responsible for other areas of the vehicle like the engine compartment, and the component to component placement. Ergonomics is the discipline that assesses the occupant's access to the steering wheel, pedals, and other driver/passenger controls.

Climate Control: Climate Control is the customer’s impression of the cabin environment and level of comfort related to the temperature and humidity. From the windshield defrosting, to the heating and cooling capacity, all vehicle seating positions are evaluated to a certain level of comfort.

Drivability: Drivability is the vehicle’s response to general driving conditions. Cold starts and stalls, rpm dips, idle response, launch hesitations and stumbles, and performance levels.

Cost: The cost of a vehicle program is typically split into the effect on the variable cost of the vehicle, and the up-front tooling and fixed costs associated with developing the vehicle. There are also costs associated with warranty reductions, and marketing.

Program timing: To some extent programs are timed with respect to the market, and also to the production schedules of the assembly plants. Any new part in the design must support the development and manufacturing schedule of the model.

Assembly Feasibility: It is easy to design a module that is hard to assemble, either resulting in damaged units, or poor tolerances. The skilled product development engineer works with the assembly/manufacturing engineers so that the resulting design is easy and cheap to make and assemble, as well as delivering appropriate functionality and appearance.


Development Engineer

A Development Engineer is a job function within Automotive Engineering, in which the development engineer has the responsibility for coordinating delivery of the engineering attributes of a complete automobile (bus, car, truck, van, SUV, etc.) as dictated by the automobile manufacturer, governmental regulations, and the customer who buys the product.

Much like the Systems Engineer, the Development Engineer is concerned with the interactions of all systems in the complete automobile. While there are multiple components and systems in an automobile that have to function as designed, they must also work in harmony with the complete automobile. As an example, the brake system's main function is to provide braking functionality to the automobile. Along with this, it must also provide an acceptable level of: pedal feel (spongy, stiff), brake system “noise” (squeal, shudder, etc), and interaction with the ABS (anti-lock braking system)

Another aspect of the development engineer's job is a trade-off process required to deliver all the automobile attributes at a certain acceptable level. An example of this is the trade-off between engine performance and fuel economy. While some customers are looking for maximum power from their engine, the automobile is still required to deliver an acceptable level of fuel economy. From the engine's perspective, these are opposing requirements. Engine performance is looking for maximum displacement (bigger, more power), while fuel economy is looking for a smaller displacement engine (ex: 1.4 L vs. 5.4 L). The engine size, though is not the only contributing factor to fuel economy and automobile performance. Other attributes include: automobile weight, aerodynamic drag, transmission gearing, emission control devices, and tires.

The Development Engineer is also responsible for organising automobile level testing, validation, and certification. Components and systems are designed and tested individually by the Product Engineer. The final evaluation though, has to be conducted at the automobile level to evaluate system to system interactions. As an example, the audio system (radio) needs to be evaluated at the automobile level. Interaction with other electronic components can cause interference. Heat dissipation of the system and ergonomic placement of the controls need to be evaluated. Sound quality in all seating positions needs to be provided at acceptable levels.
Other automotive engineering roles

There are also other automotive engineers:
The aerodynamics engineers will often give guidance to the styling studio so that the shapes they design are aerodynamic, as well as attractive.
Body engineers will also let the studio know if it is feasible to make the panels for their designs.

Thursday, 14 July 2011

Information Techonology

nformation technology (IT) is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications.[1] The term in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review, in which authors Leavitt and Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT).
Information and communication technology spending in 2005

IT is the area of managing technology and spans wide variety of areas that include but are not limited to things such as processes, computer software, information systems, computer hardware, programming languages, and data constructs. In short, anything that render data, information or perceived knowledge in any visual format whatsoever, via any multimedia distribution mechanism, is considered part of the domain space known as Information Technology (IT). IT provides businesses with four sets of core services to help execute the business strategy. These four core services are broken into business process automation, providing information, connecting with customers, and productivity tools.

IT professionals perform a variety of functions (IT Disciplines/Competencies) that ranges from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as management and administration of entire systems. Information technology is starting to spread further than the conventional personal computer and network technologies, and more into integrations of other technologies such as the use of cell phones, televisions, automobiles, and more, which is increasing the demand for such jobs.

In the recent past, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology and the Association for Computing Machinery have collaborated to form accreditation and curriculum standards[3] for degrees in Information Technology as a distinct field of study as compared[4] to Computer Science and Information Systems today. SIGITE (Special Interest Group for IT Education)[5] is the ACM working group for defining these standards. The Worldwide IT services revenue totaled $763 billion in 2009.[6]