Vol : 10No : 9December 2014

A Monthly Newsletter of SCMS Group of Educational Institutions, Cochin

Co-ordinating Editor - Mr. Sanal Potty Editorial Advisory Council: Dr. D. Radhakrishnan Nair, Prof. R. Sahadevan

Edited and published by Prof. B. Unnikrishnan for and on behalf of SCMS Group of Educational Institutions, Prathap Nagar,Muttom, Cochin - 683 106 and printed at Maptho Printings, Cochin - 683 104.

www.scmsgroup.org Email: scms@scmsgroup.org

SCMS School o f Archi tecture

Dr. G.P.C. NayarFounder & Chairman

SCMS Group of Educational Institutions

There is the power of life and death in the tongue -- says the Bible. An encouraging word to someone who is down can help to lift him up from the bottom and motivate him to achieve his goal. A destructive word to someone who is depressed can even be what it takes to kill him. So, be careful of what you say.

Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to overcome difficult times. An encouraging word can go a long way to help people find a guiding light in the thick of darkness. Special is the individual who will take the time to encourage another. Be a special person to others.

The following story speaks on the impact of words.

A crowd of frogs was moving through the jungle. Two of them accidently fell into a deep pit while jumping. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. Finding that the pit was too deep, they told the unfortunate frogs that they would never be able get out.

The two frogs ignored the comments and tried their best to jump up out of the pit. But, the others continued telling the poor frogs to stop trying and accept their destiny to die. After trying hard for some time, one of the frogs took the advice to give up and succumbed to death.

Not on bread alone...

The other frog, however, continued to try harder with more enthusiasm. Again, the group of frogs yelled at him to stop the futile struggling and just accept death. But, to the surprise of one and all, he tried more vigorously and finally did come out.

When he got out, the other frogs gathered around him and asked:”Why did you continue jumping? Didn't you hear us?” It was a shocking revelation to them that the frog was deaf and all the time he actually thought they were all encouraging him to keep on

trying. He did not want to disappoint them and therefore did not give up till the end.

The story illustrates the power of one's words. Remember, the tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body. Use it graciously for the benefit of those who need its support and power. When there is desperation, offer hope. When someone feels the world is falling apart around him, be the one to inspire him to see the possibility in the face of the impossible.

“Man does not live on bread alone; sometimes he needs a little buttering up,” as well.

Dr. G.P.C. Nayar

Prof. Pramod P. Thevannoor, Vice Chairman, SCMS Group and Mr.Shajahan Kanjiravila, Chairman, Kollam Kaipuzha Coconut Producer Company exchanging documents after signing the agreement. Prof.P.C.Pillai (second from left), Senior Group Director-SCMS, Dr.C.Mohankumar (centre), Director, SIBBR&D, Mr.P.M.Abdul Latheef (extreme left), Liaison Officer-SCMS, Mr.Gibu Koshy Vaidyan, Director-KKCPC and Mr.Nizaruddeen Ismail, Director-KKCPC are also in the picture.

Neera technology transfer: MOU signedA memorandum of understanding was signed between SCMS Group and Kollam Kaipuzha Coconut Producer Company for transfer of technical know-how to KKCPC for the production of Neera that can be kept without fermentation at normal atmospheric temperature for a period of 90 days. The new technology was developed by the scientists at SCMS Institute of Bioscience and Biotech Research and Development. Prof. Pramod P. Thevannoor, Vice Chairman, SCMS Group and Mr. Shajahan Kanjiravila, Chairman of the Coconut Producer Company inked the agreement at a function held at Prathap Nagar campus of SCMS on December 1.

Earlier, another agreement had been reached between SCMS Group and the Coconut Producer Company by which KKCPC would take up the marketing of the Neera from the production unit of SCMS at Kalamassery. SCMS is the first research institute in the private sector to develop the Neera technology and production unit. The technology was developed by SCMS Biotech Institute with support from the Coconut Development Board.

rd3 International Conference on Web Services Computing rdThe 3 International Conference on Web Services Computing

was jointly steered by the MCA department of SCMS School of Technology and Management and the Systems & Operations department of SCMS Cochin School of Business, on November 21.

Mr. James Joseph, former Director, Executive Engagement at

Microsoft India and Founder & Brand Ambassador, Jackfruit365, who presided over the inaugural session, stressed on the importance of entrepreneurship. He defined entrepreneurship as the function of discovering inefficiencies in common man's life and leveraging technology to create new business models that will

Contd. on page 2

Mr.Jorn Rohde, German Consul General inaugurating the Technology Incubation Centre at SSET. Dr.G.P.C.Nayar, Chairman, SCMS Group, Prof.P.C.Pillai, Sr. Group Director, Prof.M.Madhavan, Director, SSET, Dr.Manjula M., Head, Science & Technology Department at the German Consulate, and Dr.Sunny George, Director, CSWTM, are also in the picture.

Contd. from page 3

Student Exchange Programme

Visit of CSWTM delegation to Germany

Paper publications

Paper presentations

Between SSET and University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten, Germany

Ralf Heilmann and Marius Dietmann, engineering students from University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten, Germany, had been at SSET for the last four months as part of the student exchange programme between University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten and SSET. During their stay they participated in the on-going projects of CSWTM like development of water policy for Cochin Corporation, electro dialysis desalination, green audit and German Water Partnership Programme.

Meanwhile, the students -- Aleena James, Ashly Mary Mammen and Neenu Georgina Johnson -- of MTech Environmental Engineering at SSET have returned from University of Applied Sciences Ravensburg-Weingarten, Germany, after successful completion of the exchange programme for a period of two months.

Dr. Sunny George, Director-CSWTM and Dr. Ratish Menon, Associate Professor-Civil visited Germany for discussions with various German companies working on water technologies who will collaborate with the Technology Incubation Centre at SSET for fine-tuning and standardising their technologies to local conditions in India. CSWTM will act as a knowledge partner for the German companies in India.

Mr. Sandeep T.N., Assistant Professor-Civil, published a paper titled 'Study of Beam Column Joint Reinforced with Irregular Steel Fibers' in the International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering, Volume 4, Issue 9, September 2014.

Ms. Sanya Maria Gomez, Assistant Professor-Civil, too published a paper in the above issue of the same journal. The paper is titled 'Development of Interaction Curves for Pre-stressed Concrete Columns with Cold Drawn Wires.'

Mr. Vijay A., Assistant Professor-ECE presented a paper titled 'Capacity of Relay Channels with Power Splitting and Dual Frequency Carriers' in the International Conference on Advances in Computing and Communication held at Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology, Kakkanad on August 29.

Ms. Archana J. Satheesh, Assistant Professor-CE presented a paper titled 'Flexural and Durability performance of Self-compacting Rubberised Concrete' in the National Conference on Emerging Technologies-2014 held at Government Engineering College, Trivandrum on August 1 and 2.

Ms. Linda Jose, Assistant Professor-CE presented a paper titled 'Water Quality Modeling of a Freshwater Wetland System using Artificial Neural Network' in the National Conference on Technological Trends 2014 held at College of Engineering, Trivandrum on August 22 and 23.

Campus activities

Red Hat India conducted four-day 'Train the Trainers programme' on RHEL for the faculty members from November 4 to 7.

Placement news

Verizon conducted interview for 2015 batch BTech short-listed students on November 4 and final result is awaited.

The off-campus recruitment drive for 2013 and 2014 batch was conducted by Athena Healthcare on November 11, Speridian Technologies on November 14, Saranga Geosoftware on November 21, and Global Logic Tech on November22. The final results are awaited.

Mphasis interview for 2015 batch short-listed students is scheduled on November 26.

On-campus recruitment drive of Isam K. Kabbani Group, Saudi Arabia, for 2015 batch BTech Civil Engineering students is scheduled on November 28.

Mr. Anand Raj, Assistant Professor-Civil conducted one-day training programme for BTech Civil students on November 10.

NSS inauguration held at SSTMNSS programme for the current academic year at SSTM was inaugurated by Mr. Adarshkumar G.Nair, Joint RTO, Parur, on November 5. Prof.N.Narayanan , HoD-Commerce presided.

Mr. A. V Jose, Associate Professor, SSTM presented a paper on 'Rise in NPAs in banks -- a different perspective' in the International Seminar conducted by Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, on October 10 and 11.

SSETDigest

Technology Incubation Centre launched at SSETRealising the importance of the availability of clean and safe drinking water, which

has become a scarce resource, and foreseeing its effective management for sustainable development, SCMS Group has established a research and consultancy centre for water technology and management (CSWTM) at SSET. A technology incubation centre under the CSWTM was inaugurated by Mr.Jorn Rohde, German Consul General in Bangalore on October 28. Dr.G.P.C.Nayar, Chairman, SCMS Group, presided over the function. Dr.Manjula M., Head, Science & Technology Department at the German Consulate, Prof.P.C.Pillai, Sr. Group Director, SCMS, Prof.M.Madhavan, Director, SSET, and Dr.Sunny George, Director, CSWTM, also participated in the function.

The Technology Incubation Centre will work closely with the members of the GWP and other German companies engaged in water and waste treatment sector to fine-tune and adapt German technology to suit to local conditions. The incubation centre will also be a showcase for different types of German technology available for water and waste water treatment. The centre will ultimately be a central point for water and waste water technology in India.

Dr. Vinod P., Associate Professor-CSE presented a paper titled 'Towards the Detection of thUndetectable Metamorphic Malware' in the 7 ACM International Conference on Security of

Information and Networks hosted by School of Computing Science, Glasgow University, UK, during September 8 to 12.

Dr. Vinod P. also chaired a session in Network and defence track, in which the delegates presented papers related to the domain of system and web application security.

Dr. Vinod P. also presented a paper titled, 'Linux Malware Detection using Non-Parametric Statistical Methods,' in the International Workshop on Cyber-Physical Systems and Social Computing held from September 24 to 27.

Dr. Vinod P. again presented a paper titled, 'Android Malware Analysis using Ensemble Features' in ththe 4 International Conference on Security, Privacy and Applied Cryptography Engineering,

hosted by the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune, held during October 18 to 22. The proceedings were published by Springer as an LNCS 8804 volume.

He also presented another paper titled, 'Linux Malware Detection using extended-Symmetric Uncertainty,' in the above conference and the proceedings got published by Springer as an LNCS 8804 volume.

Jeffy George, Arjun P. Menon and Anju A. A., students of 7th semester BTech Civil, participated in the event 'Applications of GIS Workshop' conducted as part of NIRMAAN 2014, a techno-cultural symposium organised by the School of Engineering, CUSAT on October 17 and 18 and secured the 'Best Presentation Award.'

Students' achievements

improve common man's life. Web services could be effectively utilised in this case. He gave an overview of his own company, Jackfruit365 and encouraged students to come up with innovative businesses combining our traditional products with the latest technologies like web services for the betterment of mankind.

Dr.Achuthsankar S. Nair, Head, DCCB and Director, Centre for International Academics, University of Kerala, in his key note address, highlighted the enormous opportunities now available to the young generation and urged the students to make use of it.

Dr.V.Raman Nair, Group Director, welcomed the gathering and Dr. Filomina P. George, Director, SCMS Cochin School of Business, proposed the vote of thanks, at the end of the inaugural session.

In the plenary session-1 that followed, eminent speakers from the industry like Mr. M.Vijayakumar, CEO, Webyfy, Infotech, Trivandrum, and Mr. Anoop John, CTO, XYXWare Technologies, Trivandrum, gave their deep insights and different perspectives on web services.

Mr.Harish Harshan, CTO, Ruby Seven Studios Inc., Kochi, Mr.Abhishek Subramanian of Suyati Technologies, Infopark, Kochi, Mr.Jofin Joseph, COO and Co-founder, Profoundis, and Mr. Bastin Thomas, Founder, Linways, Kochi, were the speakers in plenary session-2. They spoke on the applications based on web services.

This was followed by presentations of research papers by the faculty members and PGDM students. Prof.Mariakutty Varkey, HoD, Systems & Operations, proposed the vote of thanks.

Contd. from page 1

Dr. Achuthsankar S. Nair, Head, DCCB and Director, Centre for International Academics, University of Kerala, lighting the lamp to inaugurate the conference. Others in the picture L-R : Dr.V.Raman Nair, Group Director, Mr. James Joseph, Founder & Brand Ambassador, Jackfruit365, and Dr. Filomina P. George, Director, SCMS Cochin School of Business.

Parivarthana, a unique month-long anti-drug awareness programme taken up as a community service by SCMS students in the selected schools in Ernakulam district and organised with the support of the Motor Vehicles Department and Narcotic Control Bureau of Government of Kerala, was launched by Mr.K.Babu, Minister for Fisheries, Ports and Excise, Kerala, on November 1. The launching ceremony started with a walkathon from Marine Drive to Durbar Hall ground. Over 600 students of PGDM, MBA and MCA participated along with participants from MVD and NCB. The students performed an impressive flash mob and drama at the inaugural function.

Parivarthana 2014 launched

Mr.K.Babu, Minster for Fisheries, Ports and Excise launching the Parivarthana 2014.

The quest for developing an innovative education system that sows the seeds of social responsibility in young professionals and the genuine desire to serve the society, led to the birth of Parivarthana in the year 2010. It is a unique social initiative undertaken every year with an objective to empower the youth to face the challenges in life. 'Building the youth for tomorrow, sensitising them to the issues and problems in the society and creating awareness in order to transform themselves form the core objectives of the Parivarthana. Every year a theme based on current issues or problems in the society is selected. Based on the selected theme, an hour-long educative-cum-entertaining communication programme is designed by the students and approved by the concerned experts is presented in selected schools in the district.

SCMSSpectrum

Sam Cawthorn @ SCMSMr.Sam Cawthorn, internationally reputed motivational speaker, thought leader and CEO of Empowering Enterprises, who has

addressed over 100, 000 youths and corporate professionals so far, interacted with the students and the faculty on his pet topic 'Bounce Forward – How to transform crisis to success?' on November 10. A n e x p e r t i n c o r p o r a t e a n d p e r s o n a l t u r n -around, he is the 2 0 0 9 Y o u n g Australian of the Year for Tasmania. Mr. Sam Cawthorn addressing the students.

PGDM students' winning streak continuesChampions at Rajagiri Management Fest

PGDM students continued their winning streak by winning the championship at the management fest organised by Rajagiri Centre for Business Studies, Kochi, on November 6 and 7. While the team comprising Arun Menon and Midhun Sekhar came first in Operations Game, the team comprising Varun P., Aparna R., Sachin Das, and Libin Daniel came first in Finance Game. The team of Sharon Thankam, Gayathri Krishnan, Bhargava Krishna and Mar ia S. K. came second in HR Game. Vishal R. and Ben J o e w e r e t h i r d i n Operat ions G ame an d A b h i j e e t was first in Photography Rajagiri Fest champions with the trophy.

Christ University Management Fest

XIME fest

Talks

Blood donation camp

Sharon Thankam and Gayathri Krishnan, PGDM students, came second in the HR Game conducted by Christ University, Bangalore, as part of their annual management fest.

PGDM students of SCMS COCHIN School of Business became the top performing team at the management fest conducted by XIME on November 15. The team consisting of Arun Menon and Arun Raj came first in Operations Game and the team consisting of Sharon Thankam, Maria S.K. and Bhargava Krishna came second in HR Game.

Dr.R.Padmakumar, Medical Director, Sunrise Hospital, Kochi, addressed the students on the topic 'Importance of early detection of cancer,' on October 30.

Mr.K.P.Ramesh, Deputy General Manager (Construction), GAIL India, addressed the students on the topic of 'Impact of LNG Pipeline on the Economy and Business,' on November 20.

SSTMNews from SSTM bags two Overall

ChampionshipsThe MBA students of SSTM bagged two overall championship trophies in a series in

the management fests held recently. The first trophy was won at the fest held at St. Joseph's College, Pala and the second was at Marian College, Kuttikkanam.

They also bagged the Best Manager and Management Team prizes at the fest held in S.B.College Chan-ganassery.

Contd. on page 4

MBA students who had won the championship at Marian College, Kuttikkanam.

The winners at St.Joseph College, Palai, posing with

Dr.Radha Thevannoor, Group Director.

Dr.V.Raman Nair, Group Director, Prof. Sreekumar

B.Pillai, Mr. N.S.Pillai, Manager-

Maintenance and Mr.Shaju M.A., Cluster Head-

Operations, HDFC Bank,are seen at

the camp.

Consequent on the untimely demise of Dr.Pradeep P. Thevannoor, Vice Chairman of SCMS Group, the administrative set up of SCMS Group has been revamped to ensure smooth functioning of the institutions. The following changes have come into effect at the top level.

Prof.Pramod P.Thevannoor, Senior Group Director has been promoted as the new Vice Chairman. Prof.P.C.Pillai, Group Director has been promoted as the new Senior Group Director.

Dr.Radha Thevannoor, Director, SSTM, Dr.Indu Nair, Director-MCA and Dr.V.Raman Nair, Director-Research, Consultancy & Training have been promoted as Group Directors and posted in the Corporate Office.

Prof.A.K.Kesava Pillai continues as Registrar in the Corporate Office.

Photos:

We express our hearty condolences

(Letter of condolence from Dr.Eberhard Hohl, Director-International Affairs and Dr.Bernd Platzek, Director-Executive Programmes, Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences, Germany addressed to Dr.G.P.C.Nayar, Chairman, SCMS Group.)

We express our hearty condolences to you and your family members on the expiry of your beloved son Pradeep.

We both met him in summer in Weingarten for lunch and for a challenging, pleasant talk about our collaboration on a mutual benefit. We always keep our great memories with regards to our MBA study week in 2012 to your institution. Pradeep's association with our MBA programme is deeply engraved in our fond memories unto eternity. We highly appreciated Pradeep's strong personality, his friendliness, sincerity and entrepreneurial commitment.

We shall pray for his soul to rest in peace. The Almighty shall shower you all the strength and courage to overcome the enormous grief.

Signing off with warm sympathy and empathy as friends from Ravensburg-Weingarten University,

Eberhard Hohl and Bernd Platzek

November 22, 2014

Core Management Team at SCMS revamped

Consequent on the untimely demise of Dr. Pradeep P. Thevannoor, Vice Chairman of SCMS Group, the administrative set up of SCMS Group has been revamped to ensure smooth functioning of the institutions. The following changes have come into effect at the top level.

Prof. Pramod P. Thevannoor, Senior Group Director has been promoted as the new Vice Chairman. Prof. P.C. Pillai, Group Director has been promoted as the new Senior Group Director.

Dr. Radha Thevannoor, Director, SSTM, Dr. Indu Nair, Director-MCA and Dr. V. R a m a n N a i r , D i r e c t o r -Research, Consultancy & Training have been promoted as Group Directors and posted in the Corporate Office.

Prof. A.K. Kesava Pillai continues as Registrar in the Corporate Office.

Dr. V. Raman Nair Prof. A.K. Kesava Pillai

(Letter of condolence from Dr.Eberhard Hohl, Director-International Affairs and Dr.Bernd Platzek, Director-Executive Programmes, Ravensburg-Weingarten University of Applied Sciences, Germany addressed to Dr.G.P.C.Nayar, Chairman, SCMS Group.)

We express our hearty condolences to you and your family members on the expiry of your beloved son Pradeep.

We both met him in summer in Weingarten for lunch and for a challenging, pleasant talk about our collaboration on a mutual benefit. We always keep our great memories with regards to our MBA study week in 2012 to your institution. Pradeep's association with our MBA programme is deeply engraved in our fond memories unto eternity. We highly appreciated Pradeep's strong personality, his friendliness, sincerity and entrepreneurial commitment.

We shall pray for his soul to rest in peace. The Almighty shall shower you all the strength and courage to overcome the enormous grief.

Signing off with warm sympathy and empathy as friends from Ravensburg-Weingarten University.

Eberhard Hohl and Bernd Platzek

November 22, 2014

We express our hearty condolences

As a part of the corporate social responsibility initiatives of SCMS Group, a blood donation camp was held at SCMS in association with IMA, Kochi and HDFC Bank, on November 28. Students and members of faculty and staff from PGDM, MBA, MCA and BCom departments participated in the camp. Dr. V. Raman Nair, Group Director, Prof. Sreekumar B.Pillai., Mr. N.S.Pillai, Manager- Maintenance and Mr.Shaju M.A., Cluster Head-Operations, HDFC Bank, were present on the occasion.