UTAR joins YTL Communications’ Education Partner Program

Petaling Jaya, 27 July 2010 – Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) joined YTL Communications Sdn Bhd (YTL Comms)’s Education Partner Program (EPP) today and signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to jointly deploy a campus-wide 4G network at the UTAR flagship campus in Kampar, Perak. Subsequently, similar deployments will be carried out at all UTAR campuses at Setapak, Sungai Long, and Petaling Jaya.

This marks another major milestone in the extensive EPP project spearheaded by YTL Comms to bring 4G converged service, offering data, voice and mobility to all public and main private universities in Malaysia. UTAR is the first private university to join EPP with UTM as the first public institution of higher learning we signed up earlier.

“We believe that being part of EPP will transform the way of life on our campuses. 4G Mobile Internet will provide new levels of interactivity among students and faculty personnel. Also, being a university that delves in extensive research work we are happy with the new innovative functions and capabilities our researchers will have access to with 4G Mobile Internet,” said Ir. Professor Dato’ Dr. Chuah Hean Teik, President of UTAR.

According to Professor Dato’ Dr. Chuah, this partnership will empower 12,000 students in the UTAR Kampar campus, and another estimated 7,000 students in all of the UTAR campuses around the Klang Valley, with enhanced accessibility to both Intranet and Internet facilities throughout the campus grounds.

Under the EPP, all UTAR students will enjoy high-speed, wireless broadband access at anytime and from anywhere within the campuses. Every student will get converged data and voice services totalling 300 Megabytes per user, per month for a period of 3 years.

“As we bring our 4G network capabilities to all Malaysians, it is crucial that we give special consideration to our university students, the pillar of our future. Therefore we are very pleased that UTAR has joined our EPP. We will be working closely together to foster a new generation of progressive, tech savvy and innovative students that are able to create a positive impact to the development of the nation,” said Wing K Lee, CEO of YTL Comms. “Malaysian students are among the first, if not the first in the world to have such pervasive use of the most advanced Internet technology today”.

“Students are constantly moving, always communicating on-the-go, and have this endless need for information to supplement their studies, course-works, and daily lives. Wherever the student sits or ride is a potential seat for learning and development. While on campus, they can open their laptops and immediately connect to the world – anywhere, anytime,” Professor Dato’ Dr. Chuah explained.

Once the infrastructure is up and running, UTAR will be working closely with YTL Comms to nurture the development of Internet applications in the university’s technology degree courses.

“We plan to make YTL Comms’ 4G Mobile Internet the foundation in our center of excellence for the 4G network applications and devices our students are developing. On the Kampar campus alone, we have an immediate sample size of 12,000 users to carry out our research on the 4G network in our efforts to further advance the telecommunications engineering courses”, elaborated Professor Dato’ Dr. Chuah.

Present to witness the signing ceremony was Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik, Chairman of the UTAR Council, members of the UTAR council, Professor Dr. Lee Sze Wei, Vice President (R & D and Commercialisation), UTAR, Jacob Yeoh, Executive Director of YTL Comms, and the senior management of YTL Comms.

http://www.ytlcomms.my/EN/news_details.aspx?id=23

Globalization of Innovations: Changing Nature of India’s Science and Technology Cooperation Policy

Pranav N. Desai
Jawaharlal Nehru University
Email: dpranav@hotmail.com


India’s efforts in international science and technology cooperation were
initiated as early as 1950s in the post-independence period. These efforts
conducted through different actors and channels have been undergoing
transformation through different phases of regulation and deregulation of
economy. In recent years, the unfolding of globalization has tended to change
the routes, nature and magnitude of this process in significant ways. There has
been an unprecedented increase in the number of agreements on international
R&D collaboration world over. This phenomenon was confined to the triad
countries (US, Europe, Japan) while South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and
Singapore followed later. Hence, it is not surprising that the academic interest
so far was confined only to this region rather than to the developing countries
that are emerging destinations of R&D collaboration. However, these studies
have focused mainly on corporate R&D (Carlsson, 2006) and have not paid
due attention to other types of collaborations like bilateral and multilateral
collaboration. In a developing country like India with wide socioeconomic
disparities, this process might introduce new challenges and opportunities for
innovations and policy making. Some scholars have argued that globalization
of R&D by foreign firms divert resources from the main development needs
and create high-tech islands and widen disparities. These perceptions imply
further intensification of exploitation of financial, human and natural resources
without any linkages with local industries or benefits to host countries.
Contrarily, there are others who perceive this process as capacity enhancing
with the changing nature of R&D and collaboration pattern. According to them
the activities of the transnational corporations add new innovation capacity
by bringing new technology, global knowledge network and the resultant
diffusion of knowledge. Thus, a transition from international collaboration
of R&D to globalization of innovation is visualized. In the context of the
extreme position often taken, it is being realized that there is a “missing
set of negotiated rules and institutions enabling the economies involved in
international production activities to capture and share the potential benefits
associated to it” (Zanfei, 2005).

The ‘globalization’ process is a complex phenomenon and hence defined
differently by different scholars. However, it mainly refers to “high (and
increasing) degree of interdependency and interrelatedness among different
and geographically dispersed actors” (Archibugi and Iammarino, 2002).
In principle, therefore, a higher level of globalization could be expected
even with the same level of internationalization. Thus, this definition seeks
differentiation between the term ‘global’ and ‘international’. Further, the term
‘globalization of innovation’ denotes not only the economic application of new
ideas and knowledge based on R&D or technology but it can also be based
on organizational, managerial or institutional arrangements. In recent times,
the emerging technologies like ICTs, biotechnology, nanotechnologies, etc.,
are intensifying the process of globalization. Many theoretical and empirical
efforts to explain this varied phenomenon are proving to be inadequate. For a
systematic comprehension of this concept, some scholars have categorized this
process mainly into three stages. These stages are: international exploitation,
global generation and global collaboration. “These categories emerged in
three successive stages, even though the second and the third coupled rather
than substituted the oldest one” (Archibugi and Iammarino, 1999). The first
category refers to the efforts of innovators to obtain economic advantages
through the exploitation of their own technological competence in markets
other than the domestic one. In this category of ‘international exploitation’
as against the category of ‘global’ (interdependent and integrated), the actors
introducing the innovations preserve their national identity even while the
innovations are diffused and sold in multiple countries. However, further
explorations are required to analyze these changes and the complexities of the interrelationship between the three categories in its historical context.

It is also essential to note here that this phenomenon is not only being
shaped by the structure of the international S&T innovation system which
is hierarchical in nature and tilted in favour of the countries where S&T
resources are concentrated but it is also shaping the same. To provide a
focus on the contentious issues of globalization of innovation process, an
attempt has been made here to analyze whether the ‘globalization process’
is likely to change the collaboration pattern or introduce any discontinuity in
the international cooperation policy. The impact of these changes on India’s
innovation capabilities is analyzed after having identified these new changes,
the role of new actors and the learning process.

The paper is structured around six sections that include the changing
structure of international system of innovation to explain the process beyond
NIS, an overview of India’s NIS, and the fourth section has analyzed the
shifting focus of India’s international cooperation policy in the wake of the
globalization process. This section is not restricted to R&D collaboration
in the corporate sector but includes bilateral cooperation between different
countries and also inward and outward FDI that adds to learning. The fifth
section focuses on the recent phenomenon of FDI flows in R&D with an
analysis of the areas and nature of these investments.

Scientometric highlights on science and technology related review articles affiliated to India

Anil Sagar1*, V. L. Kalyane1, E. R. Prakasan1, R. G. Garg2, Vijai Kumar1
1Scientific Information Resource Division, Knowledge Management Group,
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Maharashtra, Mumbai 400 085, INDIA
2 School of Studies in Library and Information Science, Jiwaji University,
Madhya Pradesh, Gwalior 474 011, INDIA
e-mail: anilsagarbarc@yahoo.com

Gradual growth is observed in the number of Review Articles by Indian authors being
published in recent years. More than 85 per cent of the Review Articles are written in
collaboration with more than one author. There is a scope for further comparative study
of nature of collaboration of normal articles and Review Articles. It is logical that work
involved in writing a Review Article is more than writing a normal article. Collecting the
available literature in a field, even in a micro field, is a cumbersome work. The
collaborative works gain more importance in such situations. Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore; All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre, Mumbai; Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi; and Delhi University, New
Delhi are the premier institutions which produced more number of Review Articles. The
study finds that collaboration of Indian reviewers with people from outside India is
significant. Current Science; Research on Chemical Intermediates; Indian Journal of
Medical Research; National Medical Journal of India; and Progress in Organic Coatings
are the top five journals publishing Review Articles of Indian origin. One third of the
Review Articles taken into consideration for the study are published in journals having
Impact Factors ranged from zero to one.
Multidisciplinary Sciences; Chemistry in General; General and Internal Medicine;
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; and Pharmacology and Pharmacy are the main
fields in which the majority of the Review Articles are written. Authors from Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore contributes Review Articles of various subject areas than
any other affiliations of authors. Escherichia Coli; In Vitro; Crystal Structure; GeneExpression; and Polymerase Chain Reaction are the five most occurred keywords found
in the Review Articles. The inter-quartile mean of the number of Synchronous

COMPUTER VIRUS COURSEWARE USING ANIMATED PEDAGOGICAL AGENT

Zasriati Azla Sabot, Iznora Aini Zolkifly and Tan Teik Lew
Faculty of Information Technology
Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR)
azla@unitar.edu.my, iznora@unitar.edu.my, ub1010503041@unitar.edu.my


Animated pedagogical agents (APA) combined artificial intelligent with sophisticated animation can produce effective learning environments. Offering great potential for improving learning effectiveness and efficiency, APA provides students with problem solving advice that is constructed to different individual’s learning capabilities. It also provide a low-pressure learning environment that allows users to study at their own pace.

CAPA endeavors collaboration of the delicate balance from the best aspects of a human tutor and the best aspects of a computer-based intelligent tutoring system. For example, the user do not need to feel intimidated or embarrassed approaching the agent if the users need to ask the same question repeatedly on various occasion.

TECHNOLOGY AND STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING

T HE TRANSITION TO STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS is inevitable; indeed, several significant efforts have been demonstrated or are already underway. While a great deal has been learned from available research and theory, it is naive to presume that research and theory alone shaped SCLEs. Rather, SCLEs emerged as a natural consequence of widespread availability of powerful, ubiquitous technologies that support inquiry of all kinds in all places, not simply in formal schooling. Different models of inquiry have become possible through technology; the challenge is not so much to invent new teaching-learning models as to understand and optimize those models that have emerged. It is tempting to position SCLEs and didactic approaches as polar opposites in a "winner take all" epistemological struggle: One position must be correct and prevail, while the other must be flawed and thus vanquished. It is tempting, but unreasonable. SCLE approaches will undoubtedly continue to emerge, but they do not portend the demise of didactic approaches. SCLEs open domains of study to the unique needs and sense-making of learners; they do not, however, explicitly clarify what is of general importance and significance. SCLEs and didactic approaches have important roles in the educational toolkit of instructors and students. We do not posit SCLEs, or any other approach, as the definitive "new best way"; we need, however, to determine when different tools make sense and how to utilize them.

UNITAR/UNOSAT and Google aim to provide map data for improved disaster and humanitarian response

Monday, July 18th 2011

After years of successful collaboration, UNITAR/UNOSAT (the operational satellite applications programme of UNITAR) and Google have strengthened their collaboration by signing an agreement that will give the crisis response and humanitarian community increased access to Google Map Maker source data for use in their disaster response and humanitarian activities, in more than 150 countries around the world.*

In times of disaster and humanitarian relief, access to very high quality and up-to-date baseline data of critical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, hospitals, etc. has always been essential to help humanitarian and relief workers, as well as civic administrators on the ground, to make sense of satellite-based maps. Google Map Maker addresses a significant part of these data needs by enabling users to share their geographic expertise about the places where they live, visit and know in great detail. Those contributions are then reviewed and verified through community moderation, and made available on Google Maps and Earth in near real-time.

Under this agreement UNITAR/UNOSAT will act as a conduit within the United Nations family and its Member States to make Google Map Maker data more widely and easily available to aid organizations in the event of major disasters and for humanitarian efforts. Government and United Nations agencies will be able to contact UNOSAT/UNITAR (e-mail: unosat at unitar.org) for consideration as potential licensees of the Google Map Maker data, for their disaster response, humanitarian and development projects. This agreement builds on dozens of previous joint mapping efforts between UNITAR/UNOSAT and Google, such as the ones that were coordinated for Pakistan, Sudan, and West Africa.



“UNITAR/UNOSAT is always harnessing cutting edge remote sensing and geospatial technology. This new ability to integrate Google Map Maker data more widely into our satellite analysis will have a monumental impact on UNOSAT’s ongoing efforts to make geographic information a key part of providing information for modern humanitarian relief. This agreement will also bring key benefits to the broader disaster and humanitarian community by making Google Map Maker data more widely and easily available,” said Francesco Pisano, UNOSAT Manager. “It will also directly bolster the support that we provide to the United Nations sister agencies by the International Charter Space and Major Disasters, from which UNOSAT obtains satellite data at no cost in case of major natural disasters.”

“We’ve enjoyed a strong relationship with UNOSAT for many years, built on a common goal of unlocking the power of mapping information and technology to solve real life challenges,” said Brian McClendon, VP, Google Earth and Maps. “We’re proud and humbled to share Map Maker data that has been contributed by our users with organizations and others who do impactful work providing humanitarian and disaster relief in times of crisis.”

*Countries for which UNITAR/UNOSAT will have access to Google Map Maker data
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bolivia, Botswana, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Brunei,Burkina Faso, Burundi,Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde,Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial, Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Island, North Korea, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.


http://www.directionsmag.com/pressreleases/unitar-unosat-and-google-aim-to-provide-map-data-for-improved-disaster/189902

new student introduced to the minister of Higher Education

Dato' Mustapa clicking the mouse marking the launching of the two products

The students welcomed the visit with Silat and Kompang performances symbolizing the traditional Malay culture which UTM strongly uphold, Dato’ Mustapa was also greeted by all students’ organizations in UTM including the students council (MPP). In his speech, Dato’ Mustapa said that he was touched by the grant welcome he received from the students and expressed his gratitude to UTM and the students for being able to organize the event in such a short notice. “As a leader, I need to meet you all in person in order to understand whatever problems you all are facing and how to deal with it. But it seem that in UTM, everything is in order, the registration process from what I have been briefed by Datuk Adham ran smoothly due to an efficient registering system provided by the administration of UTM. “I am also very proud with the achievements attained by UTM such as being the national champion of Robocon for the fourth time in five years and I am told they will compete in the international level this august in Hanoi. Even the famous Harvard University choose UTM for its ‘Harvard College Asia Project’, this proves that UTM has been recognized internationally as a premier educational institution.” He said.

Apart from the visit, Dato’ Mustapa also took the opportunity to launch 2 new products; UTM e-Portfolio and UTM Online Resources for Learning in English.



The e-Portfolio is the first of its kind digitally in Malaysia, the system was developed in order to help students to plan their study more efficiently. The students who recently registered were the first group of student that implements the portfolio system which was developed by the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and Center of Information Technology and Communication (CICT), UTM. The students can develop their own portfolio by uploading academic materials such as thesis’s, paper works, courses and other programmes in order to enhance their skills. As part of its ongoing effort to enhance the English language communication skills of its students, UTM has created the UTM Online Resources For Learning in English for all undergraduates and postgraduate students. The programme operates on the belief that effective language acquisition is driven by functional learner-needs within an acquisition-rich environment in which the learner, supported by available learning services and facilities, takes responsibility for their own learning. The Minister also spend sometime visiting the Sultanah Zanariah Library (PSZ), who recently launched the ‘Open Access Policy’ also known as UTM Institutional Repository (UTM-IR).

i am bored tonight :(

about me :D

my name : aishah binti mohd suhaimi

~ cami ~

~ chummy ~

~ eca ~

~ cumi ~

~ aishah ~

thats all my nick name..

so don't call me with other name that you make on yourselves =D

one n only me :P

i live at bandar tenggara,kulai..

if you don't know,you can find it at GOOGLE MAP :P

but now , i am currently at Jln Serindit , Larkin Jaya =)

next year (2013) , Insyallah my last year in UITM Kampus Bandaraya Larkin..heee~

nothing special about me =)

just a simple one =D

i like to spend my time to hangout with my friends =)

to see movie =)

just try to know me closer k =D