₦airaland Forum

Went out today and got the pictures.

flyway:
For those who have done the CROUS process: I got CROUS yesterday but they are asking for VISALE which I cannot get until I have my Visa. What is the typical thing to do in this situation?

cc mrphysics
cc electromagnito

I think all you need to do is to wait until you get your Visa to apply again. There is not deadline to Visale application.

Sometime ago, South Africa (SA) went on Gold mining without minding the environmental implication. Like other African projects, humans are not thought of as long as money is involved or will come out. They left Gold Mine Tailings which constituted serious environmental hazard in the Province of Gauteng.

People never knew about radiation exposure, so they continued farming, and drinking underground water from this site. Gold mining will release Natural Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORMs) to the environment. Tailings which are the solid wastes of mining and milling activities constitute 90% of the mining. These are wastes with long lived radioactive isotopes. In fact, in 2009, radiation measures in the Wonderfonteinspruit Catchment Area (WCA) of the Province showed that the amount of Uranium present was 10 times more than the Gold mined. This posed serious health risk to the environment and community until the government was forced to do something.

Now SA is many times ahead of Nigeria in terms of technology. In fact, they have the only Linear Accelerator in Africa and the only country in Africa with an ongoing Nuclear Power Plant project. So their experience in Radiation protection is advanced than Nigeria. And this is the reason we must be very mindful of Gold mining activities in Nigeria as we do not have that technology or remediation strategies.


Another area in Nantes, taken from the Nantes Tower. Photo Credit:

Some beautiful background pictures we took.

Please that is not my leg. I am sure we all can guess whose leg it is

I just learned that there's a gold mine found in Osun State.

While I congratulate the people of Osun State, I also wish to inform them about the dangers thereof. Gold mining often leave huge mill tailing. These tailing contains the radioactive isotope of U-238, Thorium -232, and Potassium (K-40). These are highly radioactive elements. Heavy metals of Uranium and Thorium have long half live.

Like other mining activities, these tailing are mining legacies that must be maintained. The government must know that this is unlike the oil spillage that can be left unattended to. These elements will continue to release energies for thousands of years.

Farming and having unprotected and regulated access to the mining site is dangerous. Also, once the environment is contaminated, even drinking water from that area is very dangerous as the colloids of Pu or Uranium have been found to travel very fast and very far.

Thus, they shouldn't see it as an accepted risk because of the financial benefit. They should also be informed about the Long term stewardship required for such operations. This stewardship demands religious commitment from the people.

Of course we understand people's view when they fail to issue SLO for nuclear facilities. They are afraid of the risk involved. But then, we know that our risk perception differ and there's no absolute definition of risk.

Like I earlier said, people's decision is often not rational. They choose their risk and reject others. Thus, it is in order to say that risk is a human defined concept. Let us see how people take accept risks and reject others. They transfer this irrational decision or perception of risk on nuclear facilities even though the existence of nuclear facilities does not pose much risk compared to other risks that have been accepted by same people in time past.

1. Chronic smokers accept the risk of smoking but feel greatly at risk when they are close to a nuclear power plant even though the risks may be the same or equivalent
2. People feel comfortable when they make calls while driving , but perceive as very risky when they are in a car driven by a driver making calls while driving.
3. Risky behaviors such as unsafe sex, drugs, etc involving pleasures are widely accepted but same can not be extended to Nuclear projects.

And the list continues.

The biggest problem facing the construction and completion of complex projects is obtaining Social License to Operate (SLO). The nuclear and mining industry with long term legacy face alot of resistance. Communities, countries, etc do not easily issue SLO for nuclear and mining projects. One wonders if it is even considered during the initial stages of projects in Nigeria. But in civilized societies, before starting complex projects, it is important to obtain SLO

Most recently, project completion or milestone deliverables have been affected by obstructions from host communities or local stakeholders who obstruct the daily operation of projects. To avoid this, the need to obtain a Social License to Operate (SLO) becomes non negotiable.

Like other complex projects, nuclear activities leave alot of legacies that must be maintained, safeguarded and remediated. Thus, there's need for what is known as Long term stewardship (LTS).

Against what is currently done in Nigeria, where operators of oil fields spill oil in the environment, leaving long term legacies, depriving the communities from the use of their lands and environments. Waters, farmlands, etc, have been rendered unusable by this exploration activities.

Yet in Nigeria, oil exploration, and oil wells receive faster SLO from the host communities. In other parts of the world, obtaining SLO goes beyond providing social amenities such as infrastructural development, hospitals, schools, scholarships, etc. However, in Nigeria, the provision of these infrastructures is enough to obtain SLO.

People do not make rational cases. They do not consider the legacies this activities will leave in the environment as long as some persons receive financial support.

Nuclear construction takes into effect the LTS required for nuclear projects even after decommissioning. Because we do not want to leave burdens for the future generations. They do not have to pay for something they didn't benefit from. And even if future generations will bear this burdens, we must lessen the burdens on them.

One thing this environment reminded me is the village setting. I was very close to nature and I felt home.


As we walked along the riverside, we discussed alot of things, politics, economics, life in home and outside home, and what next after studies. I am sure you understand.

The holiday is going on well at least for now. I am not that lonely as I used to be in the past.

I owe it greatly to Barbabra. Babe has helped me discover some few places in Nantes. When I am interested, we also make a bike ride together.

The day before yesterday, we went to a riverside, took a ride and had a great view of the water waves. I never knew such place existed very close to my residence. I often view there as a forest, little did I know it is a love zone.

Danny6552:
@Mrphysics please check pm

Just did bro.

BelieverDE:
Is Molecular Simulation related in any way to Mathematical Modelling?

No, molecular simulation is used to model the diffusion or transport rate of elements in the picoseconds scale. Its all about how materials behave at that time scale.

There are alot of things you can do with MD, you can build materials such as clay, cement, mix it with water or other elements and also radionuclide and see how they transport at the pico level using different tools.

See an image below that we built in class. We will continue in September when classes resume physically.

electromagnito:
interesting question, well firstly, I had to pray to God for guidance because its all by his grace I find myself in this position.
I had wanted to go to Hong Kong no matter what because the PhD topic was more related to my masters thesis which was on Glass science plus Hong Kong Universities are all in Top100 in the world including were I was admitted, let just say if there was no covid-19, I would have been in Hong Kong by now definitely.
During the lock down, I use the opportunity to also apply for a PhD at University of Hawai'i in US to work on bulk material of colloid particles, this still fall under my research work but more of biophysics, I got admitted after two Skype interview and I believe my recommendation letter from my two professor in France played a bigger role, I was told, I was selected based on my molecular dynamics simulation skills(trust me I learnt everything in france, Nigeria na scam), but there is one problem, covid 19, so I can only resume in US for spring next year plus I will be fully funded by American Chemical Society, but after going through the journal given to me to prepare myself for spring, baba I got more confused.
For France, La France, i got a PhD with ENS Lyon which is equivalent to getting a PhD with MIT in US, the PhD will be undertaken at Ecole Mines though but one special interest here is the topic, very interesting and fully sponsored by EDF, I will be working on nuclear reactor microstructure material like the 316L steel screw, this is a first hand industrial experience with EDF, everyone wants to work with EDF for sure.
I believe i will go to US someday for postdoc probably, but I won't kill myself for a US PhD because I am desperate. When the time comes, we will move trust the process baba

Congrats again bro. And welcome to the Nuclear field. We did a course on Molecular Dynamics and because of Covid-19, we couldn't have access with the Subatech internet to use the Material Studio App. We have started, however, we have to go into the use of ForceField (CLAYFF, etc.) and other Energy calculations.

For the assessment of the course, we were given lots of research papers to review and write a detailed report. I reviewed 3 papers and came up with 9 pages document on the Swelling Properties, Interlayer Structure, and Dynamics of Hydrated Cs−Montmorillonite Clay Structure. We haven't gone deep into MD but our lecturer Prof. Kalichinev is an expert in the field with over 100 published papers and supervised and still sponsoring alot of Ph.D research.

As for Colloids, its in the field of Radiochemistry. Where we study the transport mechanism of radionuclides in the colloidal forms. Because we have true and pseudo colloids, the transport process of colloids becomes very interesting. The Sorption of actinides, particularly plutonium, onto micrometer and submicrometer-sized colloids increases their mobility, but these plutonium colloids are difficult to detect in the far-field. I agree, biophysicists are also studying these processes because of what we call bioavailability of radionuclides.

Nuclear Material science is an interesting area. Very interesting course to study. I was supposed to get an A in that course until the woman gave me 16/20 There we discussed alot of stuffs including the material science of Zircaloy as a suitable element for fuel pellets. Also, we calculated how these materials are deformed as they are bombarded by neutrons causing a cascade effect from the Primary Knockout Atom. Its deep and we just started. Depending on the material, we were able to calculate the damage rate of any material in the PWR reactor. So weldone bro, I am sure you will enjoy your research.


And yes, I have always dreamed of working with EDF. Everyone wants And I pray I get the opportunity to work there.

Ysakaws1:
Please are you saying new sellers are the ones getting the orders that have been reduced for we old sellers? I’m really fed up of this very low amount of orders this year. I need to know where the problem is coming from.

Yes bro. New sellers are being promoted. Fiverr expected old sellers to have made enough clients that can sustain them. This is the only explanation I have for the sluggish sales this year.

I know someone that started during Pandemic, the person went on vacation because of orders. Lol

petux:
Hey mrphysics

I'm Peter. I read through the fiverr page, and I see that you are really active there then..

I'm trying to put these lockdown into good use by learning a skill before school resumes. I'm grounded on that skill to an extent now.

I was making research about opening an account on fiverr when I found out that they do ID verification. I read about it and find out that they require from me some documents. Unfortunately, I don't have the said document coz I'm still a student and I don't really need them right now..

Here are my questions :
1.) Can I use the Voters card of my big bro to the verification whenever it comes up?
2.) Does it have any repercussions?
3.) I don't know if you are still active on fiverr, but I want to ask if fiverr is still worth it now? Reason I asked is that I'm just trying to make something and I'm scared of going for it and at the end, failing.
4.) would appreciate if you have any advice for me.
Thanks. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Yes to all of the above.

You can use your brothers identity, however, if are going to use a picture of human on Fiverr, then it must be that of your bro.

And yes, Fiverr is still worth it. Though difficult for us old sellers but great for new sellers

petux:
I've mentioned you in the thread already.

Reading bro

petux:
Hey bro. Have a few questions would love to ask you. Should I mention you in a dead thread?

Alright boss.

One day, I will padlock my relationship in the city of love.


What about you?

Thousands of padlocked relationship.

Tonto Dikeh and Churchil equally locked theirs

And I saw where people locked their relationship.

People even do the business of selling padlock on the Eifel Tower bridge. All you need is buy your padlock, write your name, lock the relationship and decide whether to throw the key into the river or hold it pending when the relationship status changes.


But does it really work?

View around

Directly opposite the tower.

The sun was in favour of that direction

And away

Lets go away

And closer

Now lets get closer

So End my trip, I need to ensure the Eifel Tower is represented on this thread.

It's one of the symbols of France. Like someone asked in the past that this is the only thread about France with no image of Eifel Tower.

That bondage must be broken and it has been broken. It was the reason I left a single picture of Eifel tower the last time I updated this thread.

So enjoy the images

oyekan1997:
Wow...una be boss oo

By any chance sir, do you know of any France institutions offering a masters degree in petroleum geoscience or engineering?

Have you checked IFP School? I don't know about petroleum geosciences but I am sure there are some petroleum engineers in IFP.

electromagnito:
oh interesting, some schools send memo for extension of resumption date, so i want to believe it depends on the regions.... region with low case still retain normal resumption.... i wish you the best in your M2, try get 16/20

Thanks bro.

I will try my best to get that number but its really difficult.

However, my school don't give general grade over 20. It's more like a CGPA thing in my school.

flowergirl222:
Hello flyway,

I am not qualified for Visale becos of my age (>30). Also it's difficult finding accommodation in Grenoble. If you've already applied for housing, we can share accommodation together to reduce cost, or what do you think?

I am sorry about that. I haven't experienced or know one that have experienced same issue. You should write Campus France to know your options.

And for shared accommodate, some residences have what they call T1, which is like a room and parlour. So its much easier to share than the studio apartment.

electromagnito:
Prospective student should know that next session will be starting in Novemeber which is a new development due to the COVID-19, most M2 student doing their internship are yet to defend and also they are hoping the extension will give room to student who have not applied for VISA yet to meet up, the first semester will also be online, be prepared.

Maybe it varies across schools. For my school, we are resuming September 2nd. Lectures start September 3rd. Some departments will resume September 1st. And lectures will hold in the school environment -Physical meeting.

Before now, my school had earlier announced that freshmen or M1 students will resume January 7th, 2021. But start first semester online. But with the recent development in Covid-19 in France, I don't know if they have changed such decision.

Regards

electromagnito:
Lovely pictures i must confess, it remind me of my good old days in Paris, maybe i didnt take pictures because i was used to all this structure, I remember when Notre dame cathedral got burnt last year, i was there live because it was close to my research Lab, people were crying, i think i visited all places in Paris except PSG stadium because of the distant. I recommend you to visit
1. Opera
2. Trocadero(you will get a better view of Tour effiel from there)
3. Disney Land (Marne le valle) go with babe sha
4. bridge of love (with million love padlock)
5. Chateau de Versaille(outside of paris though)
6. Arc de Triomphe at Champs de Elysee.... you can also snap the national street which is one of the most expensive street in the world na there louis vuitton dey
7.Sacre coeur
8. Musee d'orsay
you visited notre dame already, louvre with the pyramid

best, i will be staying in france, i got a PhD with ENS Lyon, but for now, i no get strength to visit any place, make i dey sleep

Congrats. I am happy you finally got a PhD in France. What about the one you got in Honh Kong?

James4bright:
Bro, how often do you get to see Nigerians in France? Are there illegal Nigerians over there?

What's it like to be illegal over there as an African?

I see mostly PTDF scholars and school mates.

I have seen some illegal residence here and I don't think they have any issues. Police don't do stop an search. As long as you are here, no one will police you around. However, I do not know how they work or earn money.