Trump: My button is ‘much bigger’

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/02/politics/donald-trump-north-korea-nuclear/index.html

Source: Yong Bang Xiang: From UTM to Cambridge

By : Amirul Hazimi Abu Bakar, Dr. Sheela Chandren & Dr Nor Ain Husein

In an era where technology is constantly changing, the importance of keeping up should not be understated. The ability of a society to compete in the future is directly proportionate to its ability to guide their young. With this in mind, on the 1st of October 2017, an activity was organized to help secondary school students develop and enhance their skills and knowledge on electronics, mechanics and computer programming named “Home of Arduino”. This is a part of a service learning program organized by the Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), called Jelajah Sains 3.0 (JS 3.0).

JS 3.0 is a STEM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program, a platform for UTM students and lecturers to contribute to the society. For this particular part, Form 1 students were chosen to be illuminated on the importance of STEM in their lives through interactive projects.

JS 3.0 was organized collaboratively between Faculty of Science, UTM, Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Johor (JPNJ), Yayasan Penyayang MPJBT, Centre of Engineering (CEE) UTM, UTM Alumni Liason Unit, Pejabat Menteri Besar Johor, Pusat Ekuin UTM, Southern Drone Racing Club and UTM PV Edukit. There were seven schools involved in this program (SMK Skudai, SMK Taman Universiti 2, SMK  Impian Emas, SMK Damai Jaya, SMK Selesa Jaya 2, SMK Dato Abdul Rahman Yassin, SMK Taman Tun Aminah) where 15 students from each school joined JS 3.0 for one of the slots, which is Home of Arduino. JS 3.0 promotes and develops students’ knowledge through science and technologies, parallel with the objectives of National STEM Movement to develop STEM in Malaysia.

Home of Arduino module was developed by a group of students from UTM, led by Md Nazrul Khan Bin Md Shaharudin Khan, a third year student from Bachelor of Science (Physics) program, together with his team which included volunteers from Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Faculty of Computing, UTM. This team of 20 served as facilitators for the participants during the Jelajah Sains 3.0 made excellent use of their knowledge by practising and imparting them to the students via hands-on activity.

 105 school students were challenged to complete a task in this 5-hour activity in which they needed to build a working model of a house that utilizes technologies that could make lives better and comfortable. This activity challenged them to apply basic electronic circuits, programming and mechanical knowledge taught to them in the previous series of Jelajah Sains (held during STEM day on the 20^th of July in UniKL MITEC, Masai).

STEM Day was a festival-like program organized by Faculty of Science together with Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Johor (JPNJ), Yayasan Penyayang MPJBT, Centre of Engineering Education (CEE) UTM, UniKL MITEC Masai, UiTM Pasir Gudang, Kolej Tuanku Canselor UTM and the main organizer of Iskandar Festival Learning 2017, Wilayah Pembangunan Iskandar (IRDA).

The module consists of three parts, the programming, electronics and mechanics. First, Home of Arduino takes a step further from what the participants have learnt in school; which is drag and drop technique via Scratch software, where one could use certain pre-coded commands and set them in the sequence that they need. Arduino on the other hand, is a chip that is integrated with its own software which is more intricate.  Despite that, the participants showed their capability to comprehend and subsequently practise what was shared. The participants definitely enjoyed the sharing sessions, and they got a first peep at the language that computer programmers use, along with the ethical responsibilities that should follow. Who knows we could be nurturing the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates through this module.

Pn. Siti Norul Azizah bt Abdul Wahab, one of the teachers from SMK Impian Emas who accompanied her students to this competition commented that the students enjoyed the program tremendously as they got to learn a lot of new things. In fact, she added, the students requested for more programs like this and to extend the duration of the program. The excitement was clearly shown in the faces of her students throughout the competition. Interestingly, Pn. Norul was actually an alumni of UTM, from the Faculty of Education.

In the second part of this module, the understanding and application of electronics knowledge was challenged. This part introduced the polarity of each components, the electronics board and how the circuit functions. One of the aims of this module is that the participants would be able to understand and practise what they learnt, long after the program has ended.

 Seven groups prepared a model of a house with a smart system, which includes the control of the gates, lights and buzzer in the house. The evaluation was done by judges, academicians from UTM based on their house built and presentation, including their ability in answering questions from judges. For Home of Arduino competition in Jelajah Sains 3.0, the champion was…. Congratulations!

The Home of Arduino proved that students are able to master technical skills and knowledge at a young age and it could be a platform for university students to contribute to the community from what they have learnt at UTM.

In order for a society to be able to compete in the future, it has to be equipped with the knowledge and skills. This can only be attained if the transfer of knowledge is done efficiently in each level of society, in line with the country’s goal to achieve a developed status. It is hoped that Home of Arduino in Jelajah Sains 3.0 met its objective to be one of those efforts.

Source: Home of Arduino: STEM-based Activity for Future Malaysian Leaders

Source: FKA Organise SUSTAC17

Source: ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH COLLABORATION BETWEEN FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT, UTM AND BEIFANG UNIVERSITY OF NATIONALITIES, CHINA

South Korea has seized a Hong Kong-registered ship that allegedly transferred oil to a North Korean vessel in violation of United Nations sanctions.

Source: South Korea seizes ship that transferred oil to North Korea – CNN

Nine people were killed Friday after gunmen opened fire at a church near Cairo, the latest in a string of attacks on Coptic Christians in the country this year.

Source: Cairo attack: 9 dead in shooting at Coptic church – CNN

The White House has urged Iran to respect the rights of Iranians who have taken to the streets to protest over the past two days, warning that “the world is watching.”

Source: Iran protests: US urges respect for Iranians’ rights – CNN

North Korea will remain committed to the country’s nuclear development in 2018, according to a report released Saturday by state-run news agency KCNA.

Source: North Korea: We’re not backing down on nuclear development – CNN

THEY are degree-graduate students from the electronic and mechatronic engineering department, Faculty of Electrical Engineering (FKE). The lectures in the faculty has always kept them enthusiastic in the field of engineering.

They participated in UTM Robocon team where it open wide opportunities for them to learn, practice and apply hands-on engineering skills. Together with other participants, their team represented UTM in National Robocon competition in year 2012 and year 2013 where the team emerged as champion.

Being in an entrepreneurial-conducive environment which UTM has established, there are ample opportunities to enter competitions and to connect with academician entrepreneur. These inspired them to take on the challenges to push their limits.

They have participated in several competitions along with other participants, they were awarded champion in both Autonomous Hovercraft Competition 2014 and Dreamcatcher Software Hackathon 2015. As well as achieving first runner up in Imagine Cup Malaysia 2014 and Standard Chartered ICT 2014.

Under the mentorship and encouragement of Dr Yeong Che Fai, they have started their own venture as entrepreneurs. Dr Yeong is Senior Lecturer at Faculty of Electrical Engineering as well as a successful serial entrepreneur who has recently won First Place in pitching in Royal Academy of Engineering’s Leaders in Innovation Fellowships in London.

They started out to design smart home gadget, where they developed a prototype of smart plug controlled using Bluetooth and a timer which is aimed to save electrical energy of college hostel. They proposed the idea of installing this smart energy-saving system in hostel. However, they later found the installation cost was too high and it’s not practical to be done in small scale.

Later, they tried another concept of 360-degree car sensor which was the Final Year Project of one of the co-founder – Lim Thol Yong which has won the Innovate Malaysia competition 2014. The idea is to install sensors around the car for blind spot and upcoming collision detection. They went through several rounds and pitched the idea to Cradle, but were rejected due to end-user installation barrier and car warranty issues.

They refused to give up, on the very same day of rejection, they identified another problem out of their own frustration, which is the overnight charging issue.

They bring forth their idea and participated in i-MSC Startup Challenge 2015. They seek market validation from phone users and retailers, and identified the problems related to charging and they continue to develop the prototype. They went through several rounds of competition and finally emerged as champion in the competition.

They pitched their startup idea to Cradle, and after several rounds of screening, they secured the Cradle CIP150 fund in June 2016. Since then, they have been constantly developing and testing the prototype. The charging cable is designed to stop power supply completely once it detects the smartphone battery is fully charged, to avoid prolonged charging which causes the battery degradation to happen quicker.

The challenge they face however is that some people mistaken that the phone can cut off the power supply completely, while in reality, Li-ion or Li Po battery which powers most of the phones in the market today, enters ‘trickle charge’ when battery is full, which cuts off at 100% but it recharges when battery level drops. This process continues until the power source is removed. Keeping phone battery at its max capacity for a prolonged period hasten battery degradation over time, which is why experts advise battery to be best stored at 50% capacity if it will be left unused for long period.

Charby Sense helps smartphone users to prevent that by cutting off the power supply completely after the battery is fully charged. The cable also has several smart features such as charging speed detection, speed booster, and it is reinforced with Kevlar fiber for extra durability. Charby Sense was launched on Indiegogo on December 5, 2017, and it was fully funded in just 18 hours. (http://char.by/utm)

They also developed two other complete prototype products, Charby Connect and Charby Battery app which they plan to launch in year 2018. The Charby Connect is a smart cable which provides a complete battery care system and the Battery App is a battery management app for users to optimize battery life and update themselves about battery health.

Now, the team are constantly looking for support, so that they can grow their business and continue to share their invention to benefit more people worldwide. They also hope to be able to inspire more young entrepreneurs to take the leap and together build the nation’s economy.

Source: 3 UTM graduates launch crowdfunding campaign

Tourist carrying husband’s painkillers jailed for drug smuggling

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/26/middleeast/laura-plummer-egypt-tramadol/index.html

Prince Harry sidesteps wedding guest list controversy

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/27/europe/prince-harry-meghan-markle-wedding-guest-list-intl/index.html

S Korea to create N Korea nuclear monitoring team

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/26/asia/south-korea-defense-ministry-intl/index.html

Chinese firm clones gene-edited dog amid ethical concerns

http://cnn.it/2l7jIdM

Flash floods, and landslides kill over 100 in Philippines storm

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/24/asia/philippines-tembin-vinta/index.html