Many congratulations to my PhD student, Manvin Kaur for successfully negotiated her proposal defense this morning. Thank you to the examiners AP Dr. Azlina and AP Dr. Zainudin for the insightful comments and suggestions. Thank you also to Prof. Yeo who chaired the session.
Yesterday we gathered at DSP Lab SKE to discuss the progress of the Fatini’s research. This time around we were joined by Dr. Nurul Ashikin who shared us some of her thoughts based on her expertise and previous experiences conducting EEG on children with disabilities.
Later today, Dr. Aqeel, my colleague at SOE who is the leader of our School’s publication committee dropped me a message, informing me that my master student’s paper had been published. Alhamdulillah… The journal is a Scopus indexed journal, so I couldn’t help but feeling proud of such accomplishment.
Vicky’s published article entitled “Juvenile Delinquents’ Learning Experiences in School within Prison: Narratives from the Malaysian Context”
In 2017, Vicky started her master thesis under my supervision and graduated in 2018. I found out later that she wished to pursue her PhD study and knowing that publication is one of the plus points for scholarship applications, I offered Vicky the assistance she needed. Since I still have some budget left from my research grant, I informed Vicky that I will help her with the publication fee. In fact, I had even asked two of my colleagues to do the editing and proofreading process, and later invited them as co-authors (as they say, to cut the extra costs…)
Feel free to read Vicky’s paper on my ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338392675_Juvenile_Delinquents’_Learning_Experiences_in_School_within_Prison_Narratives_from_the_Malaysian_Context
Or alternatively on the journal’s website http://www.hrpub.org/download/20191130/UJERA14-19590969.pdf
On the 22nd of August, I received an invitation via an email from the Malaysian Nuclear Agency as a speaker at the International Conference on Non-Ionizing Radiation (ICNIR 2019), Kuala Lumpur, held on the 1st-3rd October 2019. Well, obviously the invitation came as a surprise because I could not relate any of my previous work to the word “nuclear”.
The title of my presentation…
Later I discovered from the PIC that the Agency was interested to know more about a paper I co-authored with my PhD student, Manvin Kaur entitled “Impact of smartphone: a review on positive and negative effects on students”. The paper, published in 2018, was based on Manvin’s review of past literature from 2010 to 2018, related to her project.
Me trying to make some points here….
My first thought was to ask Manvin to present her work at the conference, because I really felt that she should take the ownership of her work. Plus, it would be a good experience for her to share her doctoral project to the public. Apparently, the committee insisted that the supervisor was the one to present, and so with Manvin’s approval, I took up the slot for the talk.
Prof. Rodney Croft from the University of Wollongong asking me on how to measure “impact” in social sciences research…
The experience was an eye opener indeed, since most of the participants were experts who study the direct (and indirect) impact of radiations from the advancement of the latest technology, particularly 5G. It was a pleasure to receive positive remarks from the audience, for example from Prof. Dr. Alexander Lerchl from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany (who said that “I could relate your topic with what’s happening with my children…) and also from Dr. Chiyoji Ohkubo from Japan EMF Information Centre (who highlighted WHO has now acknowledged online games as an addiction…). And Prof. Rodney Croft from the University of Wollongong who asked me on how to measure “impact” in social sciences research.
A token of appreciation from the organising committee…
Details of my participation at ICNIR 2019 can be found at UTM News via https://news.utm.my/2019/10/highlighting-the-psychological-impact-of-smartphones-on-students-at-the-9th-international-conference-on-non-ionizing-radiation-icnir-2019/
While the PPT slides of the presentation can be accessed via ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337136514_The_Psychological_Impact_of_Smartphones_on_Students
You can also read Manvin’s paper via ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328483615_Impact_of_Smartphone_A_Review_on_Positive_and_Negative_Effects_on_Students
Yesterday we met up at DSP Lab to listen to Shanthini’s presentation on brain-based study among dyslexic children.
Yesterday I had the chance to share a session with colleagues at School of Civil Engineering on Educational Research 101. My session began after SKA’s FREE Task Force Committee Meeting led by Dr. Azmahani. We had around 20 people attended the FREE session and it was nice to meet them, especially one of my seniors, Tn Hj Che Ros whom I’ve known for years.
It was nice to make new friends at SKA
My presentation entitled “Conducting Educational Research: An Overview” was meant to introduce colleagues with engineering background on how to prepare an educational research. I got the sense that most of them are very passionate about teaching and I bet they always try their best to optimise their students’ learning. This was reflected by the kind of questions posed during and after the talk. My session was followed by Dr. Hadijah’s talk on preparing e-contents.
The title of my talk
The first group meeting for “Reflective Brain” project was organised at DSP Lab yesterday. It was primarily meant for discussing the directions of the project that will be carried out by Fatini and Taha. We were joined by Dr Zuri and Dr Syahida.
Fatini presenting her literature review
Taha sharing the way he organised his literature review
During the discussion, Fatini shared her literature review on the concepts of reflection, the thinking process as well as the brain functioning related to reflections. Taha also shared his organisation of literature review. While I got the chance to share the initial conceptual framework adopted from Prof. Ombao’s talk during the short course in UTMKL last time.
Trying to fit in Prof. Ombao’s framework
The initial conceptual framework for the project
We had a short course on EEG electrode placement and data acquisition yesterday (Sunday, 25 August 2019@Advanced Electronic Lab, P19A). We were joined by our colleagues from SKE and also our PhD students. The course started off with a talk delivered by AP Dr. Norlaili, the head of the lab. Among the topics covered by Dr. Norlaili were introduction to EEG signal, its source, the anatomy and functions of the human brain, as well as the rhythms of the brain.
Dr Laili delivering her talk
The next session was a hands-on one during which we were to produce a wire-made model of the EEG cap that help determining EEG channels positioning on the scalp.
Taha the handy-man is working on the model based on Sayyid’s head size…while Dr Syahida and Fatini assisting him….
Taha beaming with pride with the final product modelled by Sayyid…well obviously we had fun in the lab…
The remaining of the session were allocated on demos using the two versions of EEG – the Russian made (a new machine) and the Japanese produced (slightly seasoned one but still works brilliantly).
Tarmidzi showed us how to apply gels on the scalp….gels work as conductors…
Dr. Shikin explaining the signals to Taha and Tarmidzi…
I had the opportunity to attend a short course on “Big data analysis of neuroimaging and genetics” which was held on 17 August 2019, at UTMKL together with Dr. Zuri and Taha, his PhD student. Prominent researchers from the area delivered talks that focusing on how data obtained mainly through EEG and fMRI are being analysed.
The longer version of the course title
Prof. Ombao delivering his talks
The session started with talks by Prof. Hernando Ombao from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology talks on “Spectral methods for brain connectivity” and “Cross-dependence in multivariate time series”. His lectures covered the basics of brain images and signals as well as the related statistical analysis, which I found to be helpful in visualising my initial research idea. One important aspect I learned is that brain signaling helps in the characterisation and differentiation of brain patterns.
While listening to Prof Ombao’s talks I managed to draft the conceptual framework for Fatini’s PhD project.
This was followed by a talk by AP Dr Anqi Qiu from National University of Singapore (NUS) entitled “Phenotypes, genotypes & voxels: a playground next to a nuclear power plant”.
Dr. Fiecas sharing his experiences
The third presenter was Dr. Mark Fiecas from University of Minnesota whose talks entitled “A grouped beta process model for multivariate resting-state EEG microstate analysis on twins” and “Tutorial on fMRI preprocessing and analysis”. Among others, he shared his experience in collecting and analysing EEG and fMRI in studies involving identical and fraternal twins.
Dr. Cribben illustrating the brain signals
The next presenter was Dr. Ivor Cribben from Alberta School of Business, who talked about “Dynamic functional connectivity for human brain imaging data”. Among all the talks, we could closely relate our current project with Ivor’s presentation especially when he highlighted the task design of his research.
Dr. Ting highliting his points entitled “Deep Learning Methods for Brain Connectivity Networks”
The remaining lectures were delivered by UTM’s very own Dr. Chee-Ming Ting from SKBSK and Dr. David Degras from University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Dr. Degras explaining “Dynamic functional connectivity: A sparse group fused lasso approach”
Overall, it was a great course because it was participant-friendly one. We had the chance to consult the experts and all the talks were lively as the Q&A sessions were very informative. Well, one thing for sure now is having the regret for not venturing in neuropsychology last time….
Consulted Prof. Ombao during lunch break and here’s what he suggested….
Dr. Zuri with his current PhD student, Taha and his ex-student from Universiti Malaysia Perlis
The proposal assessment of eight remote supervision students was held today at SPS via Skype. Together with Dr. Norah, Dr. Husna and Dr. Hadijah, we were abled to provide comments and suggestions to the students as to assist them in refining their proposals.
Madam Ameena from Pakistan is presenting her proposal
Despite the minimal technical hiccups, we managed to engage the students from their home countries as far as China, Pakistan and Maldives. Talk about learning in the IR4.0 era….
