ARM Gift of a Lifetime (GOAL)

here is no arguing the fact that giving of gifts has become a very big part of our lives. Whether it’s for a loved one’s birthday, marriage, new baby, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Wedding anniversary, Valentine or Christmas, gifts help to strengthen bonds with colleagues, family and friends. Gifts are our way of staying in touch, saying thank you or just saying ‘I’m happy for you!

ARM has introduced a unique type of gift, a gift that is very valuable and which will make the giver feel great and have the feeling of adding unending value to the receiver.

It is the ARM ‘Gift Of A Lifetime’ (GOAL)

• GOAL is an investment gift that keeps on giving
• GOAL comes in the form of personalized gift vouchers which can be redeemed into any of ARM’s mutual fund investment products
• GOAL can be customized with the name of the receiver and giver, the giver can also add a personal message which would reflect on the gift voucher
• Gifting, using ARM GOAL is very easy and convenient, you can get it and send out from the comfort of your home, office or even vehicle
• You can buy GOAL at https://www.arminvestmentcenter.com/ARMOnline/Store/Goal  using a debit/credit card or through the online GTPay platform
• Score a GOAL with your next gift by making it an ARM Gift of A Lifetime!

Read More »

Creating A Business That Takes Social Value Seriously

Sustainable development is in the spotlight as governments around the world meet in Paris this month to discuss action against climate change. GE’s mission is to help its partners to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges, to minimise environmental impact and to advance social development.

Here are just a few ways in which GE is partnering with customers to make a difference.
Expanding renewable energy capacity
GE now has a global footprint of 30 000 wind turbines, and is expanding into the production of offshore wind farms. By 2020, half of all new electric power capacity will be renewable.
A sustainability strategy focused on social value
GE is a partner in building Africa’s sustainable future, with strategic direction provided by GE Kujenga, helping to ensure that GE’s business and operations create value for societies and make a difference, while also creating a return on financial investment.
Powering rural areas
GE is actively supporting two initiatives backing renewable energy projects. The Distributed Power University Challenge focuses on projects that provide power for communities, with a recent winner using mobile phones to control wind turbines for rural households in Kenya.

Supporting local innovation

GE is also a sponsor of the Power Africa Off-Grid Energy Challenge. Run annually in partnership with the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the initiative promotes energy solutions that reach communities not yet served by traditional power grids.
Through this challenge, Africa’s innovative energy entrepreneurs have come to the fore, with past winners including Titi Masha’s Topstep Nigeria, which develops solar-powered grain mills. Local farmers benefit from improved operations and increased profits. Meanwhile in southern Kenya, Pfoofy Power and Lighting, founded by Charles Ogingo, helps local farmers and fishermen get produce to distant urban markets via solar-powered electric bikes.

Read More »

How GE is Creating the Next Industrial Era

Business cycles have always been opportunities for GE, and today’s environment of lower oil prices is no different. To take advantage of a volatile world, GE has been investing in its core infrastructure businesses, simplifying its operations and leading the next industrial era of machines connected through the Industrial Internet.
“We capitalize on cycles by investing when others can’t, and persisting through periods of doubt,” GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt wrote in his annual letter to shareowners, which will be published later this month. “GE plans to be a stable partner to our oil and gas customers during good times and bad. Our financial strength allows GE to invest when others walk away.”

The advantage of GE’s current portfolio is the ability to thrive during periods of disruptive events and commodity cycles – like the recent downturn in the price of oil. “We’re not distracted by short-term adversity – we lean into it,” Immelt said. “If you stop investing – for instance, if we had not doubled down on aircraft engine development after 9/11 — you lose for 30 years. Instead, our CFM LEAP engine has a 79 percent market share since launch.” (See graphic.)
Similarly, GE is currently the only company taking orders on the Tier 4 freight locomotive, designed to meet new EPA standards, because it invested aggressively at a time where competitors did not.
In the oil and gas sector, GE has diversified beyond surface and subsea drilling (about 40 percent of its portfolio) into compressors and turbines pushing oil through pipelines and technology boosting refinery production (60 percent percent of portfolio). This technology, unlike surface drilling, is less prone to cyclical changes.
GE’s ability to play through cycles follows a decade in which Immelt has repositioned GE as a more focused, high-value industrial company, investing in core infrastructure and selling businesses in which GE lacked the competitive edge. (See GE’s 2014 Annual Report.) “We have exited all the industrial businesses that didn’t fit the infrastructure model,” said Immelt, when providing GE’s 2015 outlook to investors in December. “By 2016 more than 75 percent of our earnings are going to be an output of that.”
Analysts agree. “In our view, there are more changes happening at GE today than in any previous period in the company’s history,” wrote Deane Dray of RBC in January. “CEO Jeff Immelt has divested more than half of the revenues inherited from the Jack Welch era. We expect the portfolio pivot to 75 percent industrial technology and 25 percent finance by 2016 will be a game-changer, both in how investors perceive GE and its expected boost to valuation.”
2014 was a year of strong execution for GE, achieving 7 percent industrial segment organic revenue growth. That compares to 2 percent for Siemens, 3 percent for Honeywell, and negative 1 percent for Caterpillar. Margins continue to improve at a rate that impresses many analysts.
GE also used 2014 as a key year to advance its portfolio transformation, announcing the acquisition of the power and grid businesses from France’s Alstom, spinning off non-core assets like the retail finance unit Synchrony, and agreeing to sell its appliances business to Electrolux.
According to Immelt, “every business in the industrial sector can leverage all of our capabilities, what we call the GE Store: technology, services, global footprint, simple structure.” (See graphic above.)
“We have profoundly changed the company, to lead the next generation of industrial progress,” Immelt writes in his letter to shareowners. “Today, we offer investors consistent growth in a volatile world, with a strong dividend yield, and a set of businesses that share competitive strengths.”

Read More »

Prophecies, Nigerians and 2016

By Rotimi Fasan
DOWN the ages, philosophers have speculated on time as both an arbitrary and an artificial construct. Time for this class of people is a continuum which humanity has for its own convenience divided into time past, time present and future time. Otherwise, time has no boundaries. But dividing time into parts is one way through which people make sense of their existence, have some notion of how far they’ve come and what progress or lack of it has been made. So when at the end of a year people take stock of their life, it is time that makes it possible. Otherwise, human life could be one long night of darkness or slumber without a beginning, middle or end. Time thus give human life a sense of purpose. And just as time can serve as an instrument to measure individual progress, it can also serve as a calibrating tool for national progress. It is in this sense that we as a people must make sense of the strides we’ve taken as a nation. Have we moved, and if yes in what direction has our movement taken us- forward or backwards? Now 2015 belongs to the ages, what can we make of 2016?
All sorts of fortune tellers, star gazers and necromancers are already at work. These modern day futurologists, close siblings of Godspower Oyewole, Prof. Okozua and Nostradamus have been availing us of a peep into the immediate future. Even when the message from their books of fortune and crystal balls hints at hope and give a slight sense of national rebirth, the dominant tone of their message is rather underwhelming. Without any close reading of their reports the headlines say it all. They project a sense of looming national disaster with the usual caveat that things might turn around for good if certain actions are taken under certain conditions.
If at the end of December 2015 many Nigerians could not say when or where their next meal would come from, many more passed the holiday season not knowing if they would still be able to keep the same job they’ve had with no salary to take home for more than a year, with or without federal bailout- if the most reported news item and newsmakers were respectively the mindless looting of the national treasury and persons under prosecution for corrupt diversion of public funds for personal enrichment, if the last few hours of 2015 ended with the prospect of yet another breakdown in government/labour relations and possible worsening of the energy crisis that has lingered with us for many months- if these pictures of aggravated disruptions of normal existence defined the better part of last year, one wonders if any Nigerian needs a seer of whatever pretensions to tell them that 2016 would not be the same as taking a cup of kunu.
We will need to demand a lot from our leaders by insisting that they meet their responsibilities than is presently the case. This people would need to see public office not as opportunity for wealth accumulation and self-puffing but rather as a means to impact meaningfully on the economic and social existence of the vast majority of Nigerians. We would all need to keep these so-called leaders on their toes and demand that they fulfil some of the minimum demands of elected leadership – provision of jobs, solid health care and education systems among others. Those of them who see public office as a mere cushion from the hard living that their irresponsible and corrupt ways have imposed on ordinary Nigerians would need to be called out to account for their actions. It shouldn’t be the case that all our leaders would list as achievements are the number of carnivals they were able to organise in the last days of December and the number of their cronies sent on religious pilgrimage at public expense. A leader’s achievement should not be the number of Christmas trees they were able to erect during the holiday period or the number of free train or bus rides they provided people who would rather stay home than go out for recreation during holiday weekends.
But more than demanding a lot from our leaders, 2016 should be a year we demand a lot more from ourselves. We should be willing to take more active interest in our civic responsibilities. We should be ready to do more to make life better and more liveable for our fellow citizens. There should be no reason why we should leave the fight against corruption in public office in the lonesome hands of President Mohammadu Buhari who has promised to tackle it headlong. The level of corruption among public office holders should get us thinking. Corrupt persons should not be provided ethnic and religious cover among us. God has His place in our lives always but the greatest part of our problems demand personal will and exertions from us.
It is neither Buhari nor Bukola Saraki that hoards or diverts into the black market fuel meant for distribution across the country. Neither Dogara nor Gbajabiamila is there when a fuel attendant sells fuel above approved pump price. It’s ordinary Nigerians who engage in these activities; it’s they who make life difficult for their neighbours. We should be willing and ready to take responsibility for the injury we inflict on one another in the name of getting by. If we show ourselves to be responsible people in our own little corners and try to break the circle of corruption in the land, we may be able to demand same thing from those who in the name of claiming to be our elected representatives destroy the country in the name of everybody. We need no soothsayer to tell us that only we can make our country into what we want it to be.
Considering how much hangs on it, we must in this new year also be ready to take a second look at and finally lay to rest this bogey of fuel subsidy. Let’s all search our hearts and truly ask ourselves what real benefits come to us all from the so-called subsidy. Should our subsidy be only in words or should it be something we can all measure in real terms? What’s the benefit of pegging the fuel price at a so-called subsidised rate of N87, N86 or even N65 per litre when nobody buys it for anything less than N130 or more? Who benefits from this unhealthy state of affairs? In the event Nigerians have to do without ‘subsidy’ how do we ensure that the extra kobo that comes in goes into the right channel? Beyond the prophecies of doom these are the type of issues that should exercise Nigerians in this year. Happy 2016!

Read More »

Pharmaceutical company says encouraged by cancer drug atezolizumab study

It showed that 84 percent of people who responded to atezolizumab continued to respond regardless of their PD-L1 status when the results were assessed with longer median follow-up of 11.7 months.

• Published: 10.36
• Pulse News Agency International By Reuters

• Print
• eMail

play Roche says encouraged by cancer drug atezolizumab study
(Reuters)

In Lagos Roche launches Health Journalists Academy

In Us Roche hemophilia drug wins fast-track FDA designation

Top medical officer tells Britons drinking any alcohol is risky

Alzheimer Scientist says poor sleep may lead to disease

Kassim Majaliwa Tanzania's new PM threatens to sack doctors for illegal abortions

Share

0

Roche, the world's biggest maker of cancer drugs, said a mid-stage trial of atezolizumab in people with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (mUC), showed median overall survival of 11.4 months in people with higher levels of PD-L1 expression and 7.9 months in the overall study population.

It showed that 84 percent of people who responded to atezolizumab continued to respond regardless of their PD-L1 status when the results were assessed with longer median follow-up of 11.7 months.

The therapy was well tolerated and adverse events were consistent with those observed in previous updates, it said.

"It is encouraging to see that the majority of people with advanced bladder cancer who responded to atezolizumab maintained their response with longer follow up," said Sandra Horning, Roche's chief medical officer and head of global product development.

Roche plans to submit the data soon to health authorities and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under breakthrough therapy designation designed to speed the development and review of medicines that may demonstrate substantial improvement over existing therapies for serious diseases.

Read More »

SCIENCE

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

T

he term ‘fermentation’ is derived from the latin verb called Fevere, which means to boil.

Fermentation technology is one of the oldest food technologies that have been used for several thousand years as an effective and low cost means for preserving foods and beverages.

Food fermentation is of prime importance in the developing countries where the limitation of resources encourages the use of locally available fermented food products for additional nutrition. These fermented products are more common among people belonging to rural areas, without much awareness about the micro flora involved in their production. In the past few years, great emphasis has been given to identify unknown microflora associated with these products. This micro flora involves a combination of bacteria, yeast and fungi which have been

Reported by several workers from various fermented foods viz.

The most important organism associated with fermentation is yeast. Yeasts as a group of micro-organisms have been commercially exploited as a fermentative species to carry out alcoholic fermentation, especially Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The importance of this microorganism has urged many scientists to study the factors governing its growth, survival and biological activities in different ecosystems. Cerevisiae plays a prominent role in controlling the quality and flavor of the final product in wine fermentations and that’s why, it has received considerable attention in fermentation industry to obtain the best strain, knowledge of S. cerevisiae diversity associated with a particular fermented productin a given area,is of prime importance.

TAKING PALM WINE AND RED WINE AS A REFERENCE POINT

Palm wine is the fermented sap of various palm trees especially Palmyra, silver date palm and coconut palms. Palm wine can be obtained from the young inflorescence either male (or) female ones palm wine is alcoholic beverage that are made by fermenting the sugary sap from various palm plants. It is collected by tapping the top of the trunk by felling the palm tree and boring a hole into the trunk it is a cloudy whitish beverage with a sweet alcoholic taste and very short shelf life of only one day, the wine is consumed in a

variety of flavors varying foam sweet unfermented to sour ,fermented and vinegary there are many various of the products and no individuals method or recipe palm wine is particularly common in parts of Africa, South India , Mayanmar and Mexico some of the local names for the product include emuand ogogoroin Nigeria and Nsafufuoin Ghana, kallu in south India and tuba in Mexico. Palm sap can be fermented (or) processed into an alcoholic beverage it just needs the correct the yeasts, temperature and processing conditions Throughout the world alcoholic drinks are made from the juices of locally grown plants including coconut palm, Palmyra and wild date palm. The term toddy and palm wine both used to describe similar alcoholic drinks the terminology various from country to country in parts of India the unfermented sap is called “Neera” The wine is an excellent substrate for microbial growth fermentation starts soon after the sap is collected and withinan hour (or) two. Becomes reasonably high in alcoholic (upto 4%) if allowed to continue to ferment for more than a day, it starts turning into vinegar.The sap should be collected from a growing palm. It is collected by tapping the palm this involves making a small incision in the bark about 15cm from the top of the trunk a clean gourd is tied around the tree to collect the sap which runs into it the sap is collected each day and should be consumed with in 5-12 hours of collection fresh palm juice is a sweet, clear, colorless juice containing 10-12% sugar.

Palm wine contains good amount of yeast, though there are other formulated.

Yeast tablets, it is also beneficial to the body as well.By using palm wine to produce spirit. Palm wine is distilled to obtained spirit known as illicit (or) gin (or) kai-kai.

In Sri-lanka the sugar in palm sap is utilized in the production of “Coconut honey” and “jaggery” most palm sap produced in that country is used for these purpose

Palm wine under goes longer fermentation produces vinegar. Pam wine is used for making vinegar as acetificatio occurs after alcoholic fermentation of the wine it is used for making house hold vinegar in Asia. In Nigeria there is an increasing interest in vinegar production from palm wine.Palm wine from the fermentation results roomie palm sugar is also useful as menstruation Zest. In addition drink palm wine roomie is a powerful enough to fight

Pneumonia and mejan, palm sugar and has the properties as a drug fever and stomach pain. Palm wine and its distillate are important solvent in herbal –medicinal administration, pregnant women consume it fresh for the sweetness and nutrition while nursing mothers

drink it warm to enhance breast milk production. Palm wine serves as a source of inoculum for other fermentations. In Asia it is the source of inoculum for cottage industry fermentations such as Nan (a native leavened bread) and Sonnon (steamed rice flours plus palm wine)

Palm wine yeast is found capable of degrading hydrocarbons in kerosene and diesel (oil spills) confirmatory evidence was derived from gas chromatographic analysis yeast used hydrocarbons as a carbon source and energy source for growth by these isolate

Suggest its potential application in oil spill cleanupas well as in single cell protein production using hydro carbon feed stocks.

Palm wine contains Microbes it enhances the

fermentation of the palm sap

MICROBIAL ANALYSIS

From the Microbial analysis Palm wine include both Yeast and Bacteria. Palm wine yeast isolated from freshly tapped palm wine from different palm trees, identified as Schizo saccharomyces pombe, Saccharomyces cerevisae, Debaryomyces hanseniiand

Zygosaccharomyces rouxii, each of this isolates was used to ferment wheat flour dough

baked, sensory analysis of dough’s was carried out on leavening, texture, aroma, taste and appearance.

PALM WINE YEAST ISOLATES FOR INDUSTRIAL UTILIZATION.

The isolates were characterized for certain attributed necessary for ethanol production

Palm wine consists of many bacteria mainly Lactic acid bacteria include Streptococcus, Pediococcus, Leuconostoc and Lactobacillus. Lactobacillus plantarum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides were the dominated lactic acid bacteria. Acetic acid bacteria were also isolated the pH of the lactic acid and acetic acid concentration 3.5-4%, 0.2-0.4% Zymomonas mobillisis a bacterium belonging to the genus Zymomonas.

Isolated from alcoholic beverages like the palm wine. Zymomonas mobillis degrades sugar to pyruvate using the Entner-Doudoroff pathway. The pyruvate is then fermented to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide as the only products.

The advantages of Z.mobillis over S.cerevisiae, with respect to producing Bio-ethano

Read More »