Beyond Academics – More to Life at NCU

It’s so rare, that you get to board a ship that has to sail through an ocean of learning, filled with exciting voyages, jubilations, and fun. At NCU ‘Student Activities & Leadership (SAL)’ is undeniably one such ship. It is a springboard for students who are creatively inclined towards showcasing their talent in extra and co-curricular activities. With more than 50 clubs and societies under its ambit, it offers a platform where dreams are nurtured, thoughts are bartered, concepts are learnt, unlearned and relearned, through a gamut of student-led events and activities ably guided by learned and experienced faculty mentors. Some of the societies and clubs being Enactus, Moot Court Society, ASQ, Exuberance, Synergy, Economic Collective, Manovriti, Marketing Mavens, HRdiya, Financial and Investment Cell, Heritage Club, ModelUN, Google Students Club, Synergy Club, Social Club, Lumiere, Yoga Club, Mathematics Club, Entrepreneurship Cell, and NSS. The office of Students’ Activities serves as a living, learning, and wellness centre for students to coordinate a broad range of socio-cultural, intellectual, educational, sporting, and leadership events. To ensure seamless participation of students, our academic timetable is designed to offer a separate slot for all such activities and events. ‘Momentum’, the 3 days annual techno-cultural festival of the University, which synthesizes technical knowledge with fun, is being organized every year. And to top it all – participation in Co and Extra Curricular activities helps students earn credits towards the General Proficiency Course, a part of the scheme of study of every program offered at NCU.

Even the worst hit pandemic of mankind couldn’t stop us in bringing college life at home, sitting in front of the virtual panorama of computer screens with plethora of online activities enriching students’ mind, body, and spirit such as ‘The Great COVID19 Bake Off Challenge’, Creative Writing,  Arthargument 2.0 and the Independence Day Quiz, to name a few.




Dr. Jahanvi Bansal,
Assistant Professor, School of Management,
The NorthCap University

Stigma related to AIDS

HIV-related stigma refers to the negative beliefs, feelings and attitudes towards people living with HIV, groups associated with people living with HIV (e.g. the families of people living with HIV) and other key populations at higher risk of HIV infection, such as people who inject drugs, sex workers, men who have sex with men and transgender people. HIV-related discrimination refers to the unfair and unjust treatment (act or omission) of an individual based on his or her real or perceived HIV status. Discrimination in the context of HIV also includes the unfair treatment of other key populations, such as some social contexts, women, sex workers, people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, transgender people, people in prisons and other closed settings and, in some social contexts, women, young people, migrants, refugees and internally displaced people. HIV-related discrimination is usually based on stigmatizing attitudes and beliefs about populations, behaviours, practices, sex, illness and death. Discrimination can be institutionalized through existing laws, policies and practices that negatively focus on people living with HIV and marginalized groups, including criminalized populations.

Stigma and discrimination are among the foremost barriers to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Specifically, research has shown that stigma and discrimination undermine HIV prevention efforts by making people afraid to seek HIV information, services and modalities to reduce their risk of infection and to adopt safer behaviours lest these actions raise suspicion about their HIV status. Research has also shown that fear of stigma and discrimination, which can also be linked to fear of violence, discourages people living with HIV from disclosing their status even to family members and sexual partners and undermines their ability and willingness to access and adhere to treatment. Thus, stigma and discrimination weaken the ability of individuals and communities to protect themselves from HIV and to stay healthy if they are living with HIV.

Nakul Pasricha

The NorthCap University, Gurgaon

8059322308

Nakulpasricha24@gmail.com

Lecture on ‘Heritage of India’ at the Induction Programme for 1st Year students

A lecture on ‘Heritage of India’ was delivered by Mr Vikramjit Singh Rooprai, Founder of ‘Youth for Heritage Foundation’, dedicated to bring culture closer to the next generation, on 27 July 2018 during the Induction programme for 1st Year students (23 July-3 Aug 2018). His interesting lecture focused on the history and heritage of our country and he quoted some wonderful examples of human evolution. Students enjoyed the session to the extent that they gave a standing ovation to the speaker. The event was coordinated by Ms Jyotika Pruthi, Assistant Professor, and Member Secretary Student Activities & Leadership (SAL) subcommittee. 

Dr. Amit Srivastava conferred PE (Professional Engineer) by ECI

Engineering Council of India (ECI) jointly with Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) with approval from Board of Registration of Professional Engineers (BRPE) conferred Dr. Amit Srivastava (Associate Professor & Head, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, The NorthCap University, Gurgaon) the title of Professional Engineer (PE).

Engineering Council of India, the Apex Federation of 32 Indian Professional Engineering Institutions / Associations representing all engineering streams in India, was created in 2002 to oversee the development of engineering profession in India. In continuation of its mandate, it has now entered into an agreement in a South East Asia meeting at Bangkok to create and develop an Asian Register of Professional Engineers to facilitate Cross Country Operations. After receiving PE enrollment, engineers will be empowered to become capable and competent to work in Asian countries across the border.

Microwave Heating: From Cooking of Food to Materials Processing Technologies

Satnam Singh

Assistant Professor, 

Dept of Mechanical Engineering,

NCU, Gurgaon

If you think that microwave oven can only be used for cooking potatoes or food, then you should read this article.

The first commercial application of microwaves was primarily in the field of communications, but later on the heating effects of microwaves was accidently discovered [1]. PL Spencer filed the patent for microwave heating of foodstuffs in 1945 [2]. Later on, the microwave heating effects were utilized by many researchers in processing of various materials but at lower temperatures. Applications of microwaves at that time were confined to the wood drying process, cooking food, rubber processing, enhanced chemical reactions etc. 

Microwave heating is totally different from the conventional heating techniques. In microwave heating, heat is generated at molecular level, by absorption of radiations. This causes heat generated from within the material moving towards the outer surface. Further, heating is volumetric in nature, means microwaves are absorbed throughout the volume of materials. In contrast to microwave heating, conventional heating starts from the surface of materials and progresses towards the core of the  material. Due to the volumetric heating nature of microwaves, heating is intense and rapid.  

Earlier it was thought that microwaves cannot be used for processing of metals due to reflection of radiations from the surface, but later it was discovered that microwaves can be effectively used in the processing of metallic based powders [3]. This allowed wide application of microwaves in the materials processing world. The developments in metallic materials processing by microwaves are shown in Figure 1, which depicts the chronological order of various research innovations in this novel field.  

Figure 1: Developments in microwave materials processing techniques [4]

The technology changed from microwave sintering of ceramics to efficient microwave sintering of metallic powders. This area was further targeted and microwaves were used for joining of bulk metallic steels [5]. Afterwards, researchers successfully developed the novel microwave cladding process at IIT Roorkee and developed claddings of metallic powders/ composites/ cermets on bulk steels [6]. In recent times, microwaves were successfully employed for the casting of metallic powders by using domestic ovens [7].

References:

[1] Singh, S, Gupta, D, Jain, V, & Sharma, AK, Microwave processing of materials and Applications in manufacturing industries: a review. Mater. Manuf. Process., 30, 1, 2015.

[2] Spencer, PL, Method of treating foodstuffs, US patent 2495429 A, assigned to Raytheon Mfg Co., 1945.

[3] Roy, R, Agrawal, D, Cheng, J, &Gedevanishvili, S, Full sintering of powdered-metal bodies in a microwave field. Nature, 399, 668-670, 1999.

[4] Mishra, RR, & Sharma, AK, A Review of Research Trends in Microwave Processing of Metal-Based Materials and Opportunities in Microwave Metal Casting. Crit. Rev. Solid State Mater.Sci. 41, 217–255, 2016.

[5] Srinath, MS, Sharma, AK, & Kumar, P, Investigation on microstructural and mechanical properties of microwave processed dissimilar joints. J. Manuf. Process. 13, 141–146, 2011.

[6] Gupta, D, & Sharma, AK, Development and microstructural characterization of microwave cladding on austenitic stainless steel. Surf.Coatings Technol. 205, 5147–5155, 2011.

[7] Singh, S, Gupta, D, & Jain, V, Novel microwave composite casting process: Theory, feasibility and characterization. Mater.Des.111, 51–59, 2016.

Pro Vice Chancellor Attends PNGI, 3rd Professional Meet

Brig. S.K. Sharma (Retd.), Pro Vice Chancellor attended the 3rd meeting of the Professional Network Group of India on 17th December 2016 at Gurugram. “The theme of the seminar was Demonetization, its impact on the nation and how must it be managed”. The Chief Guest on the occasion was Mr S.P Gupta (IAS-Director General, HIPA). Dr. D.R. Agarwal, Professor Emeritus at The NorthCap University, Gurugram gave a talk from the perspective of impact of demonetization on macroeconomics. Prof. Sharma concluded the session.

Team Rcubers visits Sai Baba Kushtha Ashram

Team Rcubers under its banner of R_Jyoti visited Sai Baba Kushtha Ashram, Old Gurgaon on 10 July 2016.The team interacted with orphans and senior citizens in the Ashram and distributed food items to them.The team was accompanied by Mr Sanjay Jain, CTO, DEN Networks and ex-CTO, Airtel India who supported Rcubers in this initiative of helping the needy people.

 
Mr Sanjay Jain said, "It is nice to see that our young generation is so caring and helpful towards the society. R_Jyoti is a very good initiative by Rcubers run by students of NCU. My good wishes are with them and I will be happy to be a part of such visits again.”

R_jyoti is an initiative by Rcubers with an aim to do some good for the needy and encourage everyone to support the cause. With a promise to continue this initiative, Rcubers plans to organize many similar visits with an objective to spread happiness and help the ones in need.

 

Team Rcubers visits Sai Baba Kushtha Ashram

Faculty Orientation Programme

The University organized a Faculty Orientation Programme on 16 July 2016 with an aim to acquaint the faculty with the new processes at the University in its functioning in various domains.The new faculty members were given a warm welcome and were motivated to become effective teachers. Prof. PremVrat, Pro-Chancellor guided them about teaching effectiveness and the rules and zero deviation policy followed in the University.Pro Vice-Chancellor, Brig. SK Sharma (Retd) acquainted the faculty with the result moderation,appraisal process and various other issues. Talking about Research and Publications, he said that faculty should ensure that they send papers in reputed journals and avoid paid journals. Dean (Academics), Prof. Swaran Ahuja gave guidelines about the procedure to be followed in the new process for labs and lab workbooks. In practicals and lab work, there will henceforth be more self- work by student sand zero tolerance to copying will be enforced. Deputy Dean (Academics), Mr Manoj Gopaliyatalked about guidelines required for making the new time-table arrangements since the University is going in for six teaching days per week, with the basic objective of rationalizing student contact periods and hours at the University. The Orientation Programme ended with a vote of thanks by Dr Payal Khurana to the audience.

Faculty Orientation Programme