CCIS Talk: Semantics-based Keyword Search over XML and Relational Databases by Prof Ling Tok Wang

CCIS invites all to attend the following talks by Prof Ling Tok Wang:

Title: Semantics-based Keyword Search over XML and Relational Databases
Speaker: Prof Ling Tok Wang, School of Computing, NUS, Singapore.

Date: 19 December 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 11:00AM – 12:00 PM
Venue: West Room, 6th Floor, SA, UTAR KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur

Date: 20 December 2013 (Friday)
Time: 11:00AM – 12:00 PM
Venue: NF-023, FICT, UTAR Perak Campus, Kampar, Perak.

Admission: FREE
Contact person: Tay Yong Haur

Abstract

Keyword searches on XML and relational databases, as opposed to traditional structured query, have been widely studied in recent years. Users are freed from learning the query languages and database schemas by simply issuing some keywords to query the databases. Unlikely traditional structured query languages which can represent user query request precisely, a keyword query only contains some keywords which may have different interpretations and cannot capture the user’s intention precisely.

Current approaches to XML keyword search are structure-based because they mainly rely on the exploration of the structure of XML data. They can be classified as tree-based and graph-based search. The tree-based search is used when an XML document is modeled as a tree, i.e. without ID references (IDREFs), while the graph-based search is used for XML documents with IDREFs. Almost all tree-based approaches are based on some variations of LCA (Least Common Ancestor) semantics such as SLCA and ELCA. Due to the unawareness of real semantics in XML data, these LCA-based approaches suffer from several serious limitations such as meaningless answers, duplicated answers, missing answers, and answers which depend highly on the hierarchical structure of the XML data, etc.

Current approaches to keyword search on relational databases can be classified as data graph based and schema graph based. Data graph based keyword search on relational databases takes a relational database as a data graph where a tuple in the database is represented as a node in the data graph, and a foreign key-key reference between two tuples in the database is represented as an edge between the two nodes which represent the two tuples. An answer of a user keyword query is defined as a minimal connected subgraph which contains nodes that match keywords in the keyword query. This sort of graph search is equivalent to the Steiner tree problem, which is NP-complete. Research in relational keyword search has been focused on the efficient computation of answers from multiple tuples as well as strategies to rank and output the most relevant ones. Existing relational keyword search techniques suffer from the problems of returning incomplete, duplicated, and meaningless answers. Moreover, the resulting answers highly depend on the schema of the relational database and the difficulty of interpreting the intuitive meanings of the returned Steiner trees as answers.

We thoroughly point out mismatches between answers returned and the expectations of common users in keyword search in XML and relational databases. Through detailed analysis of these mismatches, we discovered the main reasons for the mismatches are due to the unawareness of the semantics of object, relationship, and attribute of object/relationship in the databases. We refer to them as ORA-semantics. In particular, unawareness of objects causes missing answers, duplicated answer, and meaningless answers.

In this talk, we will discuss how ORA-semantics can be used to overcome the above-mentioned problems in existing keyword search approaches and how to improve the effectiveness and performance of keyword search.

Speaker

Prof. Dr. Ling Tok Wang, NUS, Singapore

Dr Ling Tok Wang is a professor in Computer Science at the National University of Singapore. He was Head of IT Division, Deputy Head of the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science, and Vice Dean of the School of Computing. He received his PhD and M.Math, both in Computer Science, from University of Waterloo (Canada), and BSc in Mathematics from Nanyang University (Singapore).

His current research interests include Database Modeling, Semi-Structured Data Model, XML Twig Pattern Query Processing, XML and Relational Database Keyword Query Processing.

He serves/served on the steering committees of 4 international conferences, including ER and DASFAA. He served as Conference Co-chair of 10 international conferences, including ER 2004, DASFAA 2005, SIGMOD 2007, and VLDB 2010. He served as Program Committee Co-chair of 6 international conferences, including DASFAA 1995 and ER 1998, 2003, and 2011.

He received the ACM Recognition of Service Award in 2007, the DASFAA Outstanding Contributions Award in 2010, and the Peter P. Chen Award in 2011. He is an ER Fellow.

Entrepreneurial Talk Series: Tan Sri Azman Hashim

Department of Consultancy & Commercialisation (DCC) is pleased to invite everyone to attend the "Entrepreneurial Talk Series" by Y. Bhg Tan Sri Azman Hashim.

Details of the talk are as follows:

Date : 12 November 2013 (Tuesday)
Venue : Heritage Hall (A001), UTAR Perak Campus, Kampar.
Time : 10.30am to 1pm
Speaker : Y. Bhg Tan Sri Azman Hashim, Chairman, AmBank Group of Companies.
Admission: Free

Speaker's Biography

Bhg Tan Sri Azman Hashim, aged 74, is a banker, entrepreneur and a major shareholder of the AmBank Group.
Born in Kuala Lumpur, he grew up in a family of 13 siblings and learnt to compete and excel in an early age. At 16, he left for Australia on a Colombo Plan scholarship to study Chartered Accountancy. At 21, he became a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Secretary.
Upon his return in 1960, he joined Bank Negara Malaysia as an Accountant and served until 1964. In the same year, he set up his own Accounting firm (Azman & Co) which later became a partnership of Azman, Salleh & Co and practiced until 1971, when he joined Maybank as an Executive Director (he was already a Board Member since 1966). In 1980, he was appointed Executive Chairman of Kwong Yik Bank Berhad (now RHB Bank) until 1982, when he became Chairman of AmBank Group when he acquired 100% of its equity.
After playing an instrumental part for 31 years in the AmBank Group, it is now ranked the 5th largest financial services group in the country and has grown into what is today due to Tan Sri Azman’s vision, penchant for innovation, desire to be a builder and with a passion to succeed.
Besides his extensive involvement in public and social roles, Tan Sri Azman is also the Pro-Chancellor of Open University Malaysia since 2005 and a Member of the International Advisory Panel, Bank Negara Malaysia, International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF). He is also Chairman of Malaysia Productivity Corporation, Malaysian Investment Banking Association, Perdana Leadership Foundation, Institute of Bankers Malaysia and President, Malaysia South-South Association, Malaysia-Japan Economic Association and Friends of Prison Association. He is also a Member of the APEC Business Advisory Council, the Asian Institute of Finance and recently, Asian Banking School Sdn Bhd.

Admission is Free (UTAR students qualify for USSDC points)

For information and registration, please contact Vincent/Ronnie/Ching of DCC. Tel: 03-79582628, extension 8255 (Ronnie) or 7127 (Vincent/Ching). Further enquiries please mail to dcc@utar.edu.my

CCIS Talk: Technopreneur - Think out of the box by Shaniur Nabi, C7 Solution

Dear all,

You are cordially invited to the following talk, organized by UTAR CCIS:

Date: 7 November 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 12:00PM – 2:00PM
Venue: DK2A, UTAR KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur
Title: Technopreneur - Think out of the box
Speaker: Shaniur T I M Nabi, C7 Solution
Admission: FREE; registration at http://goo.gl/emX59T

Abstract

Being a Technopreneur does not necessarily mean to become the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg! The business idea does not have to be revolutionary or ground breaking. Simple ideas, existing ideas, solving a known problem slightly differently can generate a good business.
Being a Technopreneur is not about being a millionaire overnight, but to be different, being at the helm of technology, being a trend setter no matter how small the scope of technology is. Prerequisites are being tech savvy, creative, innovative, dynamic, dares to be different and take the unexplored path and extremely passionate in their work. Given the prerequisites are met, even with a limited capital a successful ICT based business can flourish.

Speaker

Shaniur T I M Nabi, CEO, C7 Solution

A dynamic engineer and entrepreneur with technical expertise in software development, telecommunication network management, security, optimisation and system integration. Experienced in planning, deploying and maintaining a nationwide PSTN network in Bangladesh. The network is a hybrid of traditional TDM network, soft switch, CDMA, Centrex and FTTH with a skilled workforce of 391 engineers, technicians and professionals.
Also experienced in managing a software development team with multiple projects in ERP, CRM, map digitisation, soft switch, call centre solution, billing solution and web application development. He has a double degree from RMIT University, Australia on Bachelor of Applied Science (Computer Science) and Bachelor of Engineering (Communication) with honours.
Since 2012 he has relocated to KL, Malaysia and leading a new start-up business Connect Seven Solution Sdn Bhd as the CEO. This company provides niche technology solutions to enterprises and telecom operators.

CCIS Talk: Entrepreneurship - Why, How, What, When by Srikanth Ramachandran, MKN At-life

Dear all,

You are cordially invited to the following talk, organized by UTAR CCIS:

Date: 31 October 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 12:00PM – 2:00PM
Venue: DK2A, UTAR KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur
Title: Entrepreneurship - Why, How, What, When
Speaker: Srikanth Ramachandran, MKN At-life
Admission: FREE; registration at http://goo.gl/dY70mV

Abstract

Wikipedia defines Entrepreneurship as the quality of being an entrepreneur, i.e. one who "undertakes an enterprise". The term puts emphasis on the risk and effort of individuals who own and manage a business, and on the innovations that result from their pursuit of economic success.
Based on a naïve assumption that the attendees plan to become entrepreneurs, the session uses a simple framework to share the speaker's personal experiences and assist the attendees to build their own roadmap to entrepreneurship. The speaker believes in the old Chinese proverb - "I Hear, I Forget", "I See, I Remember", "I Do, I Understand" and will guide the attendees during the session to "Do" their own roadmap.

Speaker

Srikanth Ramachandran, MKN At-Life

Srikanth has an engineering degree from India and a MBA from NTU Singapore. He spent nearly a decade at IBM Singapore and Japan building the e-business solution business (Singapore), BI/CRM (Asean/SA) and Digital Library business (Asia Pacific).
His entrepreneur journey started in 2000 with Knowledge Dynamics, where Srikanth architected industry vertical analytical solutions (iDecisions). The company was acquired by a NYSE listed company in 2005.
Srikanth is currently involved in multiple companies in the Telecom/ Media/ Technology space - Moving Walls, Outernet Solutions, PhiMetrics and Sriveda Emsys
As an industry expert, he has spoken in and chaired many conferences. He has also managed Singapore chapter for IandI, a non-profit association for entrepreneurs
Mr. Srikanth has lived and worked in India, Middle East, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan

CCIS New Member: Dr. Yogeswaran Mohan

Dear colleagues,

Let's welcome Dr Yogeswaran Mohan to CCIS. Below are short biography of Dr Yogeswaran. Feel free to contact Dr Yogeswaran for further collaboration opportunities.

Yogeswaran Mohan received his PhD and Degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Monash University and is currently teaching Artificial Intelligence at UTAR. He is highly self motivated and goal-oriented professional committed to pursuing a long-term career in lecturing and research. His professional interests focus on swarm robotics and optimization.

In addition, he serves as committee for various conferences held by IEEE RAS chapter.

Research interest
MANUFACTURING PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
To solve problems in assignment of machines to operations and the scheduling of operations on the assigned machines in Flexible Job shop Scheduling Problem with multi-objectives using heuristics or meta-heuristics. Various swarm intelligence algorithms (such as particle swarm optimization (PSO), simulated annealing technique (SA)) are hybridized to solve the Job Shop Scheduling Problems. To optimize assembly line balancing problems using artificial intelligence algorithms and heuristics. To compare and contrast various algorithms used to solve the above mentioned problem domains with the developed algorithms.

MOBILE ROBOTICS
To implement developed learning algorithms on various problems domains such as cart pole problem, soccer, mountain car problem and game theories such as Backgammon, Blackjack and Chess. To built a commercial mobile robot for research purposes. The mobile robot will consist of several common modules such as gripper module, camera module and communication turret. Further development to solve mobile robot problem domains such as mapping, localization, object detection using stereo vision, odometry issues, on-board database, self-charging capabilities and on-board neural network platform. The mobile robot will be built in a platform that supports major programming languages namely C/C++ language, Visual Basic, JAVA, MATLAB and LabView.

CCIS Talk: Lulu's Journey to the West by Lu Chen Pin, OrigineIT

Dear all,
You are cordially invited to the following talk, organized by UTAR CCIS:

Date: 28 October 2013 (Monday)
Time: 9:00AM – 11:00 AM
Venue: DK2A, UTAR KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur
Title: Lulu's Journey to the West
Speaker: Lu Chen Pin, CEO/Founder, OrigineIT Sdn. Bhd.

Admission: FREE; registration at http://goo.gl/8qI3dY

Abstract

Journey to the West is one of the 4 great classical novels of Chinese literature.  The story is about the journey of a Buddhist monk travelled to the western region (India) to obtain Buddhist Sutras, with the companion of a monkey,  a pig, a monk, and a white horse. Life is a journey. Entrepreneurship is a journey. You can choose where you want to be, and the journey is the one that make your life different. Lulu has chosen to start his own business. Hearing from a screwed-up entrepreneur and his journey to the 'west', and learn about screwing up own life by running a business, and how to enjoy the screwed up moment from time to time, to brighten your day.

Speaker

Lu Chen Pin, Origine IT
Chen Pin founded Origine IT in 2005,  a software company that focus on software support & development, specifically in telecommunication industry. This year, daringly re-align company direction towards social enterprise model, with the mission to use technology to improve life, and make the world a happier place to live..

Entrepreneurial Talk Series: Chan Kee Siak, ExaBytes Network

Department of Consultancy & Commercialisation (DCC) is pleased to invite all UTAR staff and students to attend the "Entrepreneurial Talk Series" by Mr Chan Kee Siak, Founder & CEO of Exabyte Network.

Details of the talk are as follows:

Date : 23 October 2013 (Wednesday)
Venue : Auditorium A003, UTAR Perak Campus, Kampar.
Time : 2pm to 4pm
Speaker : Mr Chan Kee Siak, Founder  & CEO of Exabyte Network.
Admission: Free

Mr Chan founded Exabytes Network or earlier known as hostkaki.com in 2001. He had always had an entrepreneurial frame of mind from as early as the tender age of nineteen. While most teenagers his age spent their young adulthood playing War Craft, Quake 3 Arena or other computer games, he was already busy establishing his own business in the technology industry - selling PCs and cracking his head for more web designing ideas, while trying to keep up with his studies.

A successful business in his mind was a business that could serve multiple clients at any given time, globally, with high margins and recurring income - all of which he was not getting from his initial business. Naturally, webhosting came to mind which he noticed, fit all of the criteria he was looking for. The business became even more appealing once he studied more in-depth about webhosting industry and got himself awestruck at the power of web and the possibilities that could arise from it. He started up by reselling for other web hosting company and today Exabytes Network is the largest web hosting company in Malaysia with its own servers and 60,000+ clients from over 121 countries.

Mr Chan was the winner of JCI CYEA (Creative Young Entrepreneur Award) in 2007. He was also the Top 30 Finalist of TOYM (Ten Outstanding Young Malaysia 2011) and Winner of Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur Award in 2011. In 2012, he won the Prestige Top 40 under 40 award.

Admission is Free (UTAR students qualify for USSDC points)

For information and registration, please contact Vincent/Ronnie/Ching of DCC. Tel: 03-79582628, extension 8255 (Ronnie) or 7127 (Vincent/Ching). Further enquiries please mail to dcc@utar.edu.my

CCIS New Member: Dr Lee Chien Sing

Dear colleagues,

Let's welcome Dr Lee Chien Sing to CCIS. Below are short biography of Dr Lee. Feel free to contact Dr Lee for further collaboration opportunities.

Chien-Sing Lee’s research spans across instructional design, computer-supported collaborative learning, game-based learning, mobile learning, data mining and intelligent agents.

She has experimented with the use of service-oriented architectures to deliver personalized instruction and the use of knowledge management to not only organize knowledge but also to derive best practices from prior knowledge so that these best practices can be easily adapted to similar scenarios.

Another area of interest is interoperability through the Semantic Web due to her concern that best practices should be shared, adopted and adapted locally and globally to improve teaching and learning practices in half the time half the cost but with the highest effectiveness and efficiency.

Her latest experiments deal with scaffolding creativity through technology in learning environments.

CCIS New Member: Dr Chong Poh Kit

Dear colleagues,

Let's welcome Dr Chong Poh Kit to CCIS. Below are short biography of Dr Chong. Feel free to contact Dr Chong for further collaboration opportunities.

Dr Chong Poh Kit Chong Poh Kit was born in Malaysia in 1979. He received the B.Eng. degree in electronics from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia, in 2001, the M.Eng.Sc. degree from Multimedia University (MMU), Cyberjaya, Malaysia, in 2003, and the Ph.D. degree in information and communications engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology,Daejeon, Korea, in 2010.

He was a Research Scholar with MMU from 2001 to 2003 and a Network Software Engineer with Intel from 2003 to 2005 before embarking on his Ph.D. studies. He has also worked at Motorola and MIMOS as a senior staff engineer.

His current research interests include computing systems, and wireless and wired communications protocols.

Research Assistant Wanted

Research Assistant (RA) Wanted

Number of Vacancies: 2

Available at 

Faculty of Engineering and Science,
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) KL Campus,
Jalan Genting Klang, 53300 Kuala Lumpur

Project Title

Design and Development of 3D Urban Traffic Monitoring and Control System.

Project Leader

Dr. Tay Yong Haur (tayyh@utar.edu.my),
Department of Internet Engineering and Computer Science,
Faculty of Engineering and Science (FES), UTAR KL Campus.

Objective

To develop a 3D software system that is used for urban traffic monitoring and control.

Scope of Work

• To evaluate the 3D modeling framework
• To evaluate the 3D navigation devices, e.g. Leap Motion.
• To develop software on top of the 3D modeling framework;
• To work closely with research engineers from the industry.

Job Description

• Remuneration of RM1500-2500 per month for 12 to 18 months, depending on experience.
• The RA must help the project leader in all works associated with the research.
• The RA must work closely with the sponsored industry partner to complete the research project.
• The RA may register for Master Degree by research program (M. EngSc) with UTAR.

Requirements

• Passionate in computer programming, especially in C++
• Strong interest and/or has working experience in 3D modeling project / GPU
• Good English written and verbal communication
• Good analytical skills
• Self-motivated, requires minimal supervision, resourceful and willing to learn.
• Available to start working preferably on 1 November 2013.

Interested Candidate

If you are interested in the RA position advertised above, please email your CV directly to Dr. Tay Yong Haur (tayyh@utar.edu.my) as soon as possible. Feel free to write to Dr Tay for any further inquiry of the project.

Only short-listed candidates will be called for interview.

CCIS Talk: Technological Advancements in Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for High Performance Computing

In collaboration with MIMOS and NVIDIA Corporation, UTAR CCIS cordially invites you to the following talk:

Date: 20th September 2013 (Friday)
Time: 10AM - 11.30AM
Venue: DK1, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Kuala Lumpur Campus, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Speakers: Dr. Simon Chong-Wee See, Chief Solution Architect, NVIDIA Corporation and Dr. Ettikan K. K., Principal Engineer, MIMOS Berhad Malaysia.
Admission: Free. Registration at http://goo.gl/Dup3Jn

Abstract
The current application of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for parallel computing tasks has shown excellent results in terms of speed-ups when compared against Central Processing Unit (CPU) processors. Rapid growth of data in terabytes & petabytes represents a huge challenge for multi-core & many-core based solution R&D. This talk describes these challenges and ongoing work in architecture design, software, and algorithms R&D to meet them.

Distinguished Speakers:

Dr. Simon Chong-Wee See, Chief Solution Architect, NVIDIA Corporation

Dr Simon See is currently the director and chief architect of NVIDIA Asia Pacific Professional Solution Group. He is also an adjunct professor at the Shanghai Jiaotong University in China and King-Mong Kung Technical University in Thailand. In addition, Dr. Simon is the chief scientific advisor to BGI (China). Dr Simon graduated from the University of Salford with a Doctorate’s degree in applied mathematics/engineering. Prior to NVIDIA, he worked at DSO National Lab, IBM, SGI and Sun Microsystems. His research interest includes computer architecture and systems, simulation and applied mathematics. He has published over 70 peer reviewed papers.

Dr. Ettikan K. K., Principal Engineer, MIMOS Berhad Malaysia.

Ettikan KK, (PhD in the area of Distributed Computing) is the Principal Researcher and Director of Accelerative Technology Lab of ICT Division @MIMOS. Current research interest includes Big/Media Data Processing, Algorithms Design & Optimization, Multi-processors, GPGPU & FPGA and Network Processing. Previously he was attached with Panasonic R&D {Panasonic Corporate Research Arm} as Principal Engineer and Group Manager of Panasonic Kuala Lumpur Lab with R&D responsibility in IP, AV, distributed and embedded communications protocols in the Home Networking/Network Processing products. Prior to Panasonic, he was with Intel Communication Group responsible for Network Processor related R&D. He has numerous international patents, publication and directly involved in world commercial product developments in those organizations. (http://ettikan.org).

Participation is free. Kindly register at the following link or scanning the QR code with your smartphone.

http://goo.gl/Dup3Jn

Please contact pkchong@utar.edu.my for further details.

Technopreneur Open Day @ Kuala Lumpur 2013

Technopreneur Open Day @ Kuala Lumpur is an event organized by MAD Incubator in support of MSC Malaysia. MAD Incubator was the organizer for D.A.R.E. BizStart 2011 event too. http://utarccis.blogspot.com/2011/09/dare-bizstart-2011.html

Event details as below:

Date: 19 September 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 9am to 6pm
Venue: Auditorium Enterprise 4, Technology Park Malaysia
Admission Fee: FREE

Hurst Lecture Series: A Conversation with Eric Schmidt

Title: Hurst Lecture Series: A Conversation with Eric Schmidt
Event: Hurst Lecture Series, Aspen Institute, Colorado
Date: 16 July 2013

In this 1 hour talk, Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, shared his views on various topics, from global economy, future technology in medicine, transportation, education, e-commerce, privacy issues, data mining, patent war, etc. In this talk, he predicted that AI will pass the Turing Test in 5 years!

Research Assistant Wanted for Computer Vision Project

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (RA)

Number of Vacancies: 1

Available at 

Faculty of Engineering & Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)

KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur

Project Title
Computer vision algorithm and software development for the application of urban traffic monitoring.

Project Leader
Associate Professor Dr. Tay Yong Haur (tayyh@utar.edu.my),
Department of Internet Engineering and Computer Science,
Faculty of Engineering and Science (FES), UTAR KL Campus.

Objective
To involve in the software development and continuous algorithm improvement of a computer vision-based software product for urban traffic monitoring.

Scope of Work

•          To evaluate the performance of the existing algorithm;
•          To recommend improvement on the existing algorithm;
•          To develop and evaluate an improved computer vision algorithm;
•          To integrate the improved algorithm into the software package;
•          To perform software development to enhance the overall software package
•          To work closely with research engineers from the industry.

Job Description

•          Remuneration of RM1500-2500 per month for 12 months, depending on experience.
•          The RA must help the project leader in all works associated with the research.
•          The RA must work closely with the sponsored industry partner to complete the research project.
•          The RA may register for Master Degree by research program (M. EngSc) with UTAR.

Requirements

•          Passionate in computer programming, especially in C++
•          Strong interest and/or has working experience in image processing / pattern recognition project / GPU
•          Good English written and verbal communication
•          Good analytical skills
•          Self-motivated, requires minimal supervision, resourceful and willing to learn.
•          Available to start working preferably on 1 July 2013.

If you are interested in the RA position advertised above, please email your CV directly to Dr. Tay Yong Haur (tayyh@utar.edu.my) as soon as possible. Feel free to write to Dr Tay for any further inquiry of the project.

Only short-listed candidates will be called for interview.

Why Google Is Investing in Deep Learning

MIT Technology Review interviews Jeff Dean, Google Fellow, on why Google is investing in Deep Learning in their product development. Check out the video link below:

Talk: Earthquake Disaster and Research Collaborations with EU(EU-FP7 & Horizon 2020) by Prof. Dr. Friedemann Wenzel

You are cordially invited to the following talk:

Date: 9th April 2013
Time: 2 - 4pm
Venue: Meeting Room, 6th Floor, SA Block, FES, UTAR KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.
Title: Forensic Disaster Analysis – A New Approach towards Large-Scale Disasters
Speaker: Prof. Friedemann Wenzel, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Biography:

Prof. Friedemann Wenzel is currently a professor at the Geophysical Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, a position he has held since 1994. Prof. Wenzel has been involved in research since 1979 and was the Principal Research Scientist for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Division of Exploration Geoscience, Sydney, and Fellow at School of Earth Sciences of Macquarie University, Sydney. He also served as the Director of the department 'Structure of the Earth' at GeoForschungs Zentrum Potsdam, and Professor of Geophysics at Potsdam University from 1992 to 1994.
The research area focuses on geological/geophysical natural hazards and associated risks. It aims at methodologies to quantify hazards and risks and to develop early warning systems. Probabilistic and deterministic methods are employed to characterize earthquake hazards and risks for buildings and infrastructure systems. In addition to large earthquakes posing threats to cities such as Istanbul we work on the seismicity related (induced or triggered) to subsurface activity such as mining, geothermal energy development, and CO2 sequestration.

Talk: Communication importance in project management by Prof Komiya

You are cordially invited to the following talk by Prof Komiya:

Topic: Communication importance in project management
Date: 13 March 2013 (Wednesday)
Venue: 6th Floor West Wing, SA Block, FES, UTAR KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.
Time: 2:00-3:00pm
Speaker: Professor Dr. Komiya

Ryoichi KOMIYA was born in Tokyo, Japan on March 16, 1945. He received his B.E. and Ph.D. degrees from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1967 and 1986 respectively. Joining the Electrical Communication Labs of NTT in 1967, he was engaged in the development of the PCM repeatered line, digital data terminal equipment, video coder/decoders, stuff multiplexers, ISDN subscriber loop transmission systems and fiber optic remote multiplexer systems.
After leaving NTT in 1992, he worked with Siemens, Nippon Telecommunication Consulting Co. Ltd., NTT Advanced Technology and the Distribution and Economics University of Japan.

He lectured at the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Information Technology at Multimedia University, Malaysia from 1998 to 2009, where he was responsible for research and development of next generation telecommunication systems, services, terminals, IP networks, virtual education environment, e-commerce terminal, Intelligent Transportation System, Fiber to the Home and Smart Office and Home Office programmes.

He also worked at the National Institute of Communications Technology, Japan from 2006 to 2008, where he studied Connected Health Systems using Body Area Network (BAN) systems.
From April, 2008 he worked with the Regional Disaster Information System Labs at Iwate Prefectural Univesity in Japan.

In June 2009, he joined University Tunku Abdul Raman, Malaysia, where he is conducting Research & Development on non-verbal communication systems, Bus Safety Driving Monitoring and Control system, victim localization systems for indoor/outdoor disasters and connected health systems. Currently he is an Adjunct Professor to FES and supervises four postgarduate students remotely by Skype.

Professor Komiya is a member of IEEE and IEICE

Big Data: Strategy, Practice, and Research

As one of the activities of World-wide Big Data Week, MDeC is organizing the following event:

Title: Big Data: Strategy, Practice, and Research
Date: 24 April 2013 (Wednesday)
Time: 9:30am - 5:30pm
Venue: MSC Malaysia K-Workers Development Centre, Block 3730, Persiaran APEC, Cyber 8, 63000 Cyberjaya, Malaysia

Organizer: Malaysia Development Corporation (MDeC)
Fees: Free of charge - register here.

In this session, speakers will share how they approach their data requirements from the perspective of what’s possible, what’s practical, and what’s scalable – and most importantly, what value results from their initiatives. Lessons will be shared on how to effectively tackle big data, and forward-thinking ideas will be explored.

This is a cross-vertical event with a broad appeal. The talks were specially selected to cover three major themes: Strategy, Practice, and Research. The objective of this event is to create an agenda that cuts across the issues in a way that will create better awareness of all the necessary pieces to drive towards a successful Big Data initiative.

Anyone with an interest in Big Data will leave here with a deeper understanding of the issues and a broader view of the space, therefore the delegate profile would include the following:

* CIO/CTO/CMO/VPEng/PMO or anyone else in a management position who wants to see how a Big Data initiative will improve the performance of their organisations.
* Engineers and developers (everyone from apps to infrastructure) in enterprise or startups/freelancers who are looking for opportunities, as well as ideas on how to upskill strategically.
* Anyone with a Business Intelligence or Data Warehousing background who wants to see what comes next.
* Anyone who has been thinking to themselves “Big Data sounds important, but what is it exactly?”

CCSN Talk: Carrier Grade Networks toward the Future - NGN and its Issues

You are cordially invited to attend the following talk:

Title: Carrier Grade Networks toward the Future - NGN and its Issues
Speaker: Prof. Koichi Asatani, Kogakuin University, Japan
Date: 12th March 2013
Time: 3 PM - 4 PM
Venue: 6th Floor Meeting Room, FES, UTAR KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.

Talk: ITS situation in France and trends for low carbon society actions

Open Invitation to an Evening Talk organised by Intelligent Transport System Association of Malaysia (ITSM) on the following event:

Title: ITS situation in France and trends for low carbon society actions
Speaker: Mr. Jean-François JANIN, French Ministry of Transport, General Directorate for Infrastructures, Transport and Sea
Date: 7th March 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 3.30pm to 6.30pm
Venue: Dewan Gerakan, 6th Floor, Ibu Pejabat Kementerian Kerja Raya, Jalan Sultan Salahuddin, 50580 Kuala Lumpur
Fees: Free of charge

Programme:
3.30pm: Registration and Welcome Tea
4.00pm: Talk by Mr. Jean-François JANIN
5.30pm: Open Discussion with Dr. Jean-Luc Ygnace
6.30pm: End of Programme

Synopsis:
A technical presentation of current situation and perspectives of ITS in France and research program of IFSTTAR (French Research resulting from merging of LCPC and INRETS) about the different measures available to reduce CO2 emissions from transport and their consequences on the organization, the funding schemes and the use of intelligent systems and services in logistics and transport, especially in the cities.

Bio-data:

Jean-François JANIN is a graduate of ParisTech (Ecole Polytechnique in 1972, ENPC in 1974) and of the Institute for Political Sciences of Paris in 1974. He worked for the French Ministries for Environment, Industry and Transport in Paris and Clermont-Ferrand. He was also General Manager of the Chamber of Commerce of Lille for 10 years. As ITS task force manager since 2002, in the French Ministry of Transport (General Directorate for Infrastructures, Transport and Sea (DGITM) and Delegation for Road Safety), he took a major role in the implementation of several ITS systems: smart cards in public transport, European digital tachograph, automatic speed limits enforcement, national ITS architecture, multimodal travel information, tracking and tracing of dangerous goods, etc. He teaches ITS in ParisTech – ENPC, University Paris II, and ECE. He chairs the Scientific Interest Group on ITS and represents the French Ministry of Transport in ERTICO and is involved in several cooperation agreements (America, Japan and China).

For the last thirty years, Dr. Jean-Luc Ygnace has been leading research programs on new technology assessment in worldwide transportation, e.g. route guidance technologies and traffic information needs, development of cellular phone usage as it relates to transportation issues, technology and market assessment of new communication services for train users (Wi-Fi), etc. As a senior research engineer at INRETS (Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Securite, now IFSTTAR) in Lyon, France, he has closely observed transportation related technologies for many years. He have authored a seminal book “Les Systèmes de Transport Intelligent: un enjeu stratégique mondial ” in France, which focuses on Intelligent Transportation Technologies (ITS). Therefore, he is well aware of the importance of transportation technologies in solving problems of congestion, economy and safety of transportation. During all these years he has established strong research cooperation links with the PATH program, University of California, Berkeley as well as with many other universities worldwide like Kyoto in Japan, or Monash in Australia.

For more info please contact : (Ir KK Chin 012-2968066)

CMS Talk on Singular Value Decomposition

Dear all,

The next CMS talk will be on 20 Feb 2013 (Wednesday), 2pm. The speaker is Dr Liew How Hui from Department of Mathematical and Actuarial Sciences, UTAR.

Date    : 20 Feb 2013 (Wednesday)
Time    : 2 pm - 3 pm
Venue   : SD 102, UTAR KL Campus, UTAR, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.
Speaker : Dr Liew How Hui
Title   : Introduction to Singular Value Decomposition
Abstracts:
Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is a very important numerical tool in linear algebra and data analysis.  Firstly, linear algebra problems will be introduced.  Secondly, a useful tool in data analysis called principle component analysis (PCA) will investigated using an example.  Finally, application of SVD to PCA will be mentioned.

All are welcome.

CMS Talk: Tight-frame Approach for Image Processing by Raymond Chan, CUHK

CMS proudly invite Prof. Dr. Raymond Chan from The Chinese University of Hong Kong to deliver a seminar related to his research field in CMS Workshop on Mathematics 2013. All staffs and students are welcome to attend. The details of seminar are given below:

Date: 30th January 2013 (Wednesday)
Time: 10.00am – 10.40am
Venue: SA 6th floor (West Wing), FES, UTAR KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Raymond Chan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Biography:

Prof. Dr. Raymond Chan is the Chairman of the Department of Mathematics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong where he obtained his B.Sc. degree (First Class Honors) in 1980. Uncertain of what to do next, he stayed in the Department as a full-time Instructor after graduation. He started his graduate study in 1981 with a full fellowship from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. He obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Mathematics there in 1984 and 1985 respectively under the supervision of Professor Olof Widlund.
Chan began his career as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1985. With heart and mind always in Hong Kong, he came back to Hong Kong in 1986, first at The University of Hong Kong (1986-92) and then at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (1993) before joining his Alma Mater in 1993.
Chan has published 110 journal papers and has been in the ISI Science Citation List of Top 250 Highly- Cited Mathematicians in the world since 2004. He won a Leslie Fox Prize for Numerical Analysis in 1989 at Cambridge in the United Kingdom; a Feng Kang Prize in 1997 in Beijing, China; a Morningside Award in 1998 in Beijing, China; and 2011 Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards (First Prize) from the Ministry of Education in China. He has served on the editorial boards of many journals, including: Asian Journal of Mathematics (co-Chief Editor since 1997), Advances in Computational Mathematics (since 2010), Journal of Scientific Computing (since 2013), Numerical Linear Algebra with Applications (since 2004), SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences (since 2007), and SIAM Journal on Scientific Computing (served from 2000 to 2008). He also presented over 120 invited conference talks in more than 20 countries and reviewed papers for more than 80 different journals.
His wonderful group of graduate students includes: Xiaoqing Jin, the Head of Department of Mathematics at University of Macau; Michael Ng, who won an Honorable Mention in the Householder Prize Competition in 1996; Wai-Ki Ching, a prize winner of the 1998 Copper Mountain Conference Student Paper Competition; Chiu-Kwong Wong, a Sloan Dissertation Year Fellow in 1998; Hao-Min Zhou, who won an Honorable Mention in the Householder Prize Competition in 2002 and is an NSF CAREER awardee in 2007; and Zheng-Jian Bai, the Applied Numerical Algebra Prize Winner in 2008.

Entrepreneurial Talk Series: Francis Yeoh, YTL

Department of Consultancy & Commercialisation (DCC) is pleased to invite all UTAR staff and students to attend the "Entrepreneurial Talk Series" by Tan Sri Dato' Dr Francis Yeoh Sock Ping, Managing Director of YTL Corporation Berhad & Executive Chairman of YTL Communications Sdn Bhd.

Details of the talk are as follows:

Date : 30 January 2013 (Wednesday)
Venue: Dewan Tun Ling (Grand Hall), UTAR Perak Campus
Time : 3pm to 5pm
Speaker: Tan Sri Dato' Dr Francis Yeoh Sock Ping, Managing Director of YTL Corporation Berhad & Executive Chairman of YTL Communications Sdn Bhd

Admission is Free (UTAR students qualify for USSDC points)

Please bring along your student card for registration and lucky draw!!

For information and registration, please contact Vincent/Ronnie/Ching at the Department of Consultancy and Commercialisation (DCC). Tel: 03-79582628, extension 8255 (Ronnie) or 7127 (Vincent/Ching). Further enquiries please mail to dcc@utar.edu.my

Hardcode, the secure coding contest for App Engine

Google Developers Blog: Calling student coders: Hardcode, the secure codin...: By Parisa Tabriz, Security Team Cross-posted from the Google Online Security Blog Protecting user security and privacy is a huge respons...

CCIS Talk: Professional Software Development - What you don't learn in university

You are cordially invited to attend the following talk:

Date: 31 January 2013 (Thursday)
Time: 2pm - 3pm
Venue: SB015, UTAR KL Campus, Setapak, Kuala Lumpur.
Admission: Free
Title: Professional Software Development - What you don't learn in university
Speaker: Mr. Ilyas Sapiyan, Technical Director, InternetNow International
Abstract:

So you will soon be entering the IT industry as a software development professional? Compared to your contemporaries in other fields such as medicine, engineering (other than software engineering of course),  law, accountancy; do you think you have received the requisite training to equip you as a professional in your field of endeavour? A doctor is entrusted to make life and death decisions, engineers must build constructions which must not collapse, accountants are expected to produce accurate accounts and so on.  Are you able to produce software which is correct (i.e. performs in accordance to specifications) and does not fail (i.e. bug free)?

The software industry today is still riddled with many delayed projects and bad products. The truth is that many of the exponents of the industry still do not know how to deliver products on time and with minimal bugs.  The computer science courses they undertook at university level did not fully prepare them for their future careers. They were not taught how professionals should behave, nor the skill sets required to be a professional software developer.

In this talk, the speaker covers what it means to be a professional developer: how to behave, how to deal with different people in the team, how to code, how to manage your time, how to practice and hone your programming skills, how to test your software, how to estimate your completion dates, how to deal with pressure and what tools professionals use. Hopefully, this will motivate you to explore further in this critical area and in turn prepare you to join the workforce as a true professional.


Biography:

Ilyas Sapiyan is the Technical Director of InternetNow International Sdn Bhd (www.internetnow.com.my) , a software development company specialising in Internet communication and security. He has over 12 years of experience developing software products which have been sold for millions of ringgit worldwide.

A former child prodigy, he graduated at the age of 19 as the best student in his faculty and started his working career at Microsoft. He is a finalist of NEF-Awani Young IT Entrepreneur Award 2010. Away from programming, he enjoys being involved with nature, sports and photography. He also served as a committee member of Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Selangor.

CCIS Talk: Optical Network Evolution and Advancement

You are cordially invited to the following talk:

Date: 22 Jan 2013 (Tuesday)
Time: 12.30pm - 2.00pm
Venue: N005, UTAR Perak Campus, Kampar.
Title: Optical Network Evolution and Advancement
Admission: Free
Presenter: Prof. Sung-Kwon Park
Biography:

Prof. Sung-Kwon Park is currently Full Professor at Hanyang University and also serving as Dean of Office of Information and Communications, in charge of the entire computer communication networks and information systems in Hanyang University. He joined Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN, USA as Assistant Professor in Department of Electrical Engineering, upon his graduation from RPI in 1987. In 1990, he received an Initiation Award from US National Science Foundation. He left Tennessee Tech in 1993 as Tenured Associate Professor to join Hanyang University. He is a senior member of IEEE, a member of the IEICE, a life member of Korean Information and Communications Society.