The Development of Body Sizing System for School-aged Children using the Anthropometric Data

(Norsaadah Zakaria, PhD Thesis, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), 2010)

On 24th August 2010, Norsaadah had successfully defended her PhD thesis.

Dr Norsaadah (in red) with her viva panel

To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge

(Henry David Thoreau)

12th May 2011 is the first day of the 74th Convocation for UiTM. On the day, His Royal Highness Al-Wathiqu Billah Tuanku Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Mahmud Al-Muktafi Billah Shah, UiTM Chancellor, inaugurated the convocation and also UiTM's new convocation hall, known as the Dewan Agong Tuanku Canselor (DATC). ASPRG group member, Nurlaila Ismail, received her MSc scroll on this day.

Photo courtesy of HafizItam

Photo courtesy of HafizItam

Convocation in progress ... view from back of the stage

Nurlaila (in blue head scarf) in queue to receive her scroll.

The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.

(Stephen Ambrose)

Everyday, everybody creates history. Yesterdays become repositories of many historical events that provide abundance knowledge for hindsight and tomorrows' outlooks. Many examples, inspirations and motivations can be obtained from yesterdays' events. The ASPRG, led by Siti Arpah,  took the initiative in getting some history lessons into 'research' perspective by organising a very special seminar entitled 'Research Inspirations from the Conquest of Constantinople: Al Fateh'. Together with the Kelab Kebajikan FKE, the seminar was held at FKE on 26th April 2011. Below is a summary of the event, prepared by Siti Arpah.

Laporan Seminar April 2011: Inspirasi Penyelidikan dari Penaklukan Konstantinopel: Al-Fateh
Tarikh: 26 April 2011
Masa: 9.00 – 12 tgh
Tempat: DK C , FKE, S&T
Penceramah : Ustaz Muhammad Shaari Ab. Rahman

Alhamdullillah program telah selamat di jalankan. Seramai 48 orang staf FKE dan 21 orang pelajar dari ASP Research group datang ke majlis ilmu tersebut. Secara rawak, separuh daripada hadirin tidak pernah mendengar tentang kisah Sultan Al-Fateh ini.

Ceramah bermula pada pukul 9 pagi dan acara diselang seli dengan preview video kepemimpinan Al-Fateh. Acara berakhir pada pukul 12 tengah hari. Secara keseluruhan, ceramah amat menarik. Penyelidikan yang di bawa dari kisah ini adalah menyeluruh dari ilmu politik, strategi ketenteraan, geografi, sains, kejuruteraan dan kekuatan keimanan yang tinggi terhadap kebenaran Hadis Nabi. Penceramah telah berjaya menarik perhatian para hadirin dengan paparan gambar-gambar 3D tempat tersebut (Istanbul sekarang) , peta, lakaran tembok dan preview video kisah itu. Kesemua buku tulisan beliau yang di bawa habis dijual. Kisah Kepemimpinan Al-Fateh berhasil memperkenalkan kehebatan sejarah Islam teragung melalui perpspektif yang baru dan mengujakan.

Disediakan oleh:
Siti Arpah Ahmad
ASP Research Group
26/4/2011

Ustaz Muhammad Shaari presenting al Fateh

Ustaz Muhammad Shaari autographing books purchased by participants.

Music is the art of thinking with sounds

(Jules Combarieu)

On Mon, 25th April 2011, one of our research lab, The Biomedical Research Laboratory for Human Potential, was honored with an official visit by The Faculty of Music, UiTM. The group included lecturers: Sharifah Faizah, Rita Mardhatillah and Nurulhamimi, led by the Dean, Assoc. Prof. Dr Ghaziah Mohd Ghazali. They were accompanying Prof. em. Dr. Wilfried Gruhn, University of Music (Musikhochschule) Freiburg, Germany. They were introduced to the lab and our current researches.

We had a very fruitful discussion on setting up collaborative research works relating to certain scientific evaluation of music. The proposal encompasses new qualitative and quantitative researches and possible intervention programs.

Prof Gruhn, Dr Ghaziah and Prof Nasir

Sahrim talked about measurement set-up and signal processing

Zodie described works on addiction

L2R: Rita, Nurul, Sharifah, Dr Ghaziah,Prof Gruhn, Prof Nasir, Nazre, Zodie, Zunairah, Sahrim

It is your own conduct which will lead you to reward or punishment, as if you had been destined therefor.

(Prophet Muhammad)

In continuing our effort for educating and motivating our members toward research of distinction, we invited another young PhD speaker, Dr Kamariah Noor Ismail, Postgraduate Coordinator, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, UiTM, to share her winning strategies in getting a good PhD. Below is a report of the session prepared by Nazre.


ASPRG March 2011 seminar had been successfully conducted on Tuesday, 28th March 2011 at Al-Haytam Seminar room, Faculty of Electrical Engineering. The speaker invited was Yang Berusaha Puan Dr. Kamariah Noor binti Ismail,  a senior lecturer  at Faculty of Chemical Engineering,  UiTM.

During her speech which lasted for almost 2 hours, Dr. Kamariah had enlighten the audience, comprising of ASPRG members and guests, with her wits mostly touching on her PhD experiences. Her talk covered from A to Z of her PhD life, starting from the interview session to obtain the scholarship until her viva and post-viva life. Throughout all the phases, she faced a lot of challenges but nevertheless she managed to tackle the obstacles and completing her PhD with flying colours.

In her sharing, Dr. Kamariah  reminded all the participants to understand the concept of postgraduate life which rely on the “independent study”.  Yet, the students must be alert with their surroundings which require them to interact with other entities such as supervisor, family, colleagues and peer researchers. She also prompted those who are studying under scholarship to treat PhD as an “AMANAH”, which needed to be catered with careful responsibility. Instead of talking about personal provision, Dr. Kamariah also shared several technical information such as thesis writing and file management.

Prof. Mohd. Nasir bin Taib, the Head of ASPRG, on his remarks, thanked and congratulated Dr. Kamariah for sharing her endeavors.  According to him, Dr. Kamariah had proven that anybody could gain success in PhD when they have strong self-believed, passion and hard works.

Reported by:
Nazre bin Abdul Rashid
The Organizer
ASPRG, UiTM

  

Filling up physical needs, ready for some spiritual uplifting

The Lady speaker in action!

Small token of appreciation from us...

Group photo with Dr Kamariah

93rd ASPRG Colloquium @ Fraser's Hill

A special colloquium and motivation seminar were organised at Pine Resort, Fraser's Hill, 18-20 Mar 2011. Group members, many took along their sons, daughters, mom, dad, etc., used the opportunities to be close to nature and temperate climate. During out first day there, it was raining all day long. The first night we listened to a motivation seminar on research. On Saturday morning, Dr Zakaria Hussain, Senior Lecturer of UiTM Pulau Pinang presented his experiences in doing research for his PhD. In the afternoon, members participated in some sporting events organised by the resort. At night, we have our colloquium which consisted of progress presentations and discussions for researches done in Mar. A lot of thanks and appreciations goes to Siti Arpah and Norizam for making the meeting a success!

Cars waiting to go up. The road for the last 9km to the peak is a one way traffic during the day.

Raining and hazy skies on 18th and 19th.

 

Our dinner, colloquium and meeting in this observatory.

Dr Zakaria stressed that there are three main things to ensure satisfying and successful PhD, i.e. first have passion, then have more passions and finally have a lot of passions!

Yes ... sure, many of us are actually beyond  'passions'!

ASPRG and family members enjoying lunch

The cool weather and a lot of research discussions call for a lot of food.

Clearer sky at the resort at noon on Saturday

CSPA 2011 BBQ Dinner

On Sunday night (5th Mar 2011), CSPA 2011 BBQ dinner was held at the beach front behind the resort. Dinner started at 8pm and lasted until 11.

Dinner venue at 700pm

CSPA 2011 Venue

The venue of CSPA 2011 was carefully selected to offer nice, tranquil and relax environment. The Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Ferringhi Beach, Penang, Malaysia offers these advantages and highly suitable for the event. Many participants really appreciates the venue and some even extended their stay, while some others requested for a repeat colloquium at the resort.