Category Archives: Other

WORKSHOP DEMAND DRIVEN INNOVATION PROJECT BY PPRN

UTM Technology Entrepreneurship Centre (UTMTEC) in cooperation with Ministry of Education (Entrepreneurship Unit) has organized a workshop Demand-Driven Project by Public Private Research Network” on 29th July 2015 (Wednesday), starting from 0800 (Registration) till 1700 at Dewan Perdana, Le Grandeur Resort, Senai (formerly known as Sofitel Hotel). A briefing from Datin Dr. Syahirah Hamidon (Ketua Penolong Setiausaha Kanan, Unit Keusahawanan, Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia) regarding  PPRN and its involvement with the University’s Entrepreneurship Centre starting this year has been given.
Furthermore, entrepreneurs from different industries were invited to share and facilitate their problems with the researchers. Funding from the MoE will be given to selected entrepreneurs and the researchers who won during the bidding process.

 

UTM Staff Games 2015

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6 Jun; Kejohanan Olahraga UTM telah berlangsung pada Sabtu lepas (6/6/2015). PTJ gabungan FKK + IBD + FPREE telah menghantar seramai 10 orang atlet (6 lelaki, 4 wanita). Walaupun kali ini hanya 10 orang atlet sahaja dapat menyertai kejohanan kali ini, tetapi PTJ gabungan ini tetap gah dan menyinar dengan memperolehi 5 pingat emas, 3 pingat perak dan 3 pingat gangsa. Saya selaku pengurus olahraga bersama dengan Dr Asmadi dengan ini mengucapkan setinggi-tinggi tahniah dan terima kasih kepada semua atlet dan juga para penyokong yang hadir memberi sokongan pada PTJ gabungan kita. Senarai penuh keputusan adalah seperti berikut:

PINGAT EMAS

1. 100M wanita (Eraricar Salleh)

2. 200M wanita (Eraricar Salleh)

3. 200M lelaki (Halim Yatim)

4. 800M wanita (Mimi Haryani Hassim)

5. 4x400M wanita (Mimi Haryani, Zalilah Sahrer, Roziah Ramly, Eraricar)

PINGAT PERAK

1.100M lelaki (Halim Yatim)

2.4X100M wanita (Roziah Ramly,Eraricar, Zalilah Sahrer, Mimi Haryani)

3.4x400M lelaki (Dr Asmadi, Dr Zainul Akmar, Dr Hashim, Azizul Ripin)

PINGAT GANGSA

1. 400M wanita (Zalilah Sahrer)

2. 800M lelaki (Azizul Ripin)

3. Lempar Cakera lelaki (Halim Yatim)

Tahniah kepada semua pemenang dan peserta!

 

Sabah Earthquake

Early this week on 5th June we were shocked to hear about the earthquake that struck Ranau, Sabah with a magnitude of 6.0. This earthquake lasted for 30 seconds and is the strongest to affect Malaysia since 1976.

According to a geologist, the earthquake was caused by the presence of active fault lines. The tremors resulted in a rapid release of energy where seismic waves move in all directions from the source. As the centre of the earthquake was near to Mount Kinabalu, the focus caused massive landslides. Tremors follow along faults, or longitudinal cracks in the earth that have bent and snapped back like an elastic rebound. Then, aftershocks will take place, which are smaller tremors that occur while the Earth’s crust settles.

The source of the Poring Hot Springs turned murky for a few hours due to the earthquake, which disrupted a clay deposit that interrupts the fault gap that heats up the rainwater which enters the earth. The water flowed more smoothly and had access to more heat. Strong tremors in Ranau are predicted to continue whenever the stored energy exceeds the Earth’s ability to store it, in which occurs on a regular basis. In the case of Ranau, an earthquake will happen at an approximate rate of every 25 years.

During the earthquake, one of the peaks on Mount Kinabalu (called the Donkey’s Ears) was broken off. The water at Poring Hot Springs, a popular tourist area near Ranau, also turned black after the event. Other infrastructures were also reportedly damaged with around 23 schools in six different districts affected, while Ranau Mosque was effectively damaged due to the tremor.Serious damage occurred to the hostels and resthouse near the summit of Mount Kinabalu. Buildings were similarly affected by the earthquake in Kota Belud and Tuaran. The areas around Kundasang and Ranau suffered water supply disruption when the main water drainage pipe burst, and several plants in both regions were damaged with a leakage in the deposition tank.

187 climbers were impacted, according to Sabah official sources, with most of them from Malaysia and Singapore, and others from Australia, Canada, China, Denmark,India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States. 137 of them were stranded but subsequently rescued. As of 7 June, 18 people of 5 nationalities were confirmed dead.

Source: Wikipedia

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Location of Ranau

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The Donkey’s ear: Before and after the earthquake

 

IICIST 2015

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On 20th April 2015, the 1st ICRIL-International Conference on Innovation in Science and Technology (IICIST 2015) was held at Menara Razak, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The conference was organized by Science Development Network Leadership Center (SDNLC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). It is aimed at facilitating multidisciplinary research and stimulating collaborations between researchers in Malaysia and their counterparts around the world, broadening and deepening global understanding of the various challenges in innovative research and development, as well as knowledge economy and business, while advancing alternative solutions to business and development challenges. IICIST 2015 provided a forum for accessing to the most up-to-date and authoritative knowledge from both industrial and academic worlds, sharing best practice in the field of Engineering, Science, Technology, and Management towards sustainable development.

Two of my Masters students, Shafinas and Reiza have participated in this conference, presenting their work on “Antioxidant properties of rice bran oil from different varieties extracted by solvent extraction methods” and “Optimization of cocoa butter equivalent production from formulated hard palm oil mid-friction and canola oil blends”.

 

UTM team FAST 4 champion for 10th Chem-e-car Competition

10th Chemecar Competition was organized by Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) and hosted by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia on 10-11th April 2015, officiated by YB Datuk Dr. Abu Bakar Muhamad Diah, Deputy Minister of MOSTI.
This year Faculty of Chemical Engineering UTM has sent 3 teams for the competition; Fast4, H2GO and F.Jen. In the car performance competition, the car must move to a specified distance and kick a golf ball into a goal post. The car must stop before the specified stopping line. Marks are given to the less error in the distance from the stopping line and the ball goes into the goal post.
After competing with 56 teams from over 20 universities and colleges, team Fast4 UTM was announced the champion for car performance and team H2GO won 8th place in poster competition. Teams Chemliners and UTP Rangers from Universiti Teknologi Petronas won 3rd and 2nd place in car competition, while team Hi-tech from Universiti Putra Malaysia won 1st place for poster competition.
Next year UTM will be the host for 11th Chemecar Competition.
Go! Go! Go UTM!!
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