Assalaam aleykom and a very good day.

It has been proclaimed by the respective parties, that the PhD viva date for Mr. Alfian bin Abdul Halin will be on the 25th of August, 2011... which is around 4-5-6 days before Raya Aidil Fitri :) I hope that all my family and friends will pray to the one God for my success, so that the viva will proceed smoothly, and that the examiners will not 'shoot' me with killer questions... AND, so that my supervisor will be satisfied with my work :) Amin.

The external examiner belum hantar report lagi tapi. But according to my supervisor, it doesn't matter since the school can proceed to fix a date. The external is expected to submit his report by then, insyaAllaah. Oraits... Shelamaat :D

As can be seen, external still hasn't submit whereas both the internals have already hantar-ed :D

My friend just received confirmation that his paper has been accepted for a conference in Singapore. The problem now is that the money he thought was supposed to be there to fund this conference, isn't actually there. It was supposed to be there, but since something happened, it's not there anymore and it seems that it is difficult to make reappear once again. Not that it got stolen or anything, it's just because the guy (not my supervisor...) in charge of the grant did not send a report to the funders. Hehehehehe. Well, partially it's the guy's fault also. But I think it's also the fault of the funder... since it never stated when the report should be given, and how it should look like. And since it's the first time this guy is handling a grant, then he didn't know this was supposed to be done.... 

Tap takpe.. a learning curve :D And also, now he knows the ever winding labyrinth of bureaucracy that exists in govt. or semi-govt. institutions :D Selamaaat.

PS:- Now, where to get the $$$. Would it be ok if he used his own dough, just this once? Hehehehehe....

Was chatting with a friend last week. Both of us are in the the academic business and we talked about the requirements set by some local (Malaysian) universities for a candidate to obtain his/her PhD. With all the fuss about publishing... some unis apparently are setting up some, if I may say, CRAZY rules in order for one to obtain his/her doctoral certificate. The general rule was that a student has to produce at least 3 ISI Journals (I believe with impact factor)... if not, the uni will not grant him/her the PhD cert. This is absolutely absurd as 3 journals (ISI pulak tu!!!) within the duration of 3-4 years is quite difficult to produce, especially for a PhD candidate who is just learning the ropes of reading papers!

For some disciplines, yes... this rule can be applied. For instance, it seems that Chemical Engineering students can publish 10 papers (ISI and with impact factor) during their PhDs... similarly, Maths students can also do almost the same. I know this because most of the time, when the School of Computer Sciences USM decides to talk about publishing in impact factor journals, they would invite speakers from the Engineering campus... whose publication records are sky high! While this is not wrong (we do get motivated by these talks), some things have to be put into correct perspective. Once I asked one of my engineering friends (an academic of course)... he told me it was common that each chapter of the thesis to be an ISI paper. The main reason was that, provided the work is good, most of the journals respond within 2-4 months. Comparing with my field (computer science)... it normally takes 6-months just to wait for the answer of either being rejected, or accepted with corrections. Most of the journals that I see (the great ISIs if you may...) can go up to one year! And finally, ultimate acceptance  and online publication is only achieved after 1.5 to 2 years. 

The thing is this... different disciplines have different timelines for publications. Physics, Chemistry, Maths and some other fields don't take that long for papers to be processed (from what I've learnt). Comp. Science on the other hand takes almost forever. So, to get 3 ISIs might span up to 6-years, and even then only if you're smart and lucky enuff to get acceptance. I really2 do wish that some unis use their brains (as that is what unis are supposedly filled with) when setting such standards. I hear some overseas unis don't even require publications for passing a PhD, and this is from some of the most renowned unis in the world! Malaysia ni terlebih power kot.... We are trying to catch the boat... but thru weird and most of the times absurd policy making. This is my thought :D hehehe... Okes... Assalaam aleykom WBT.

PS:- don't get me started with supervision. Hahaha!!!

Example: This paper took approx. 2-years (Machine Learning paper). Click to view full-size

I have made a rather bold decision... which is to write my thesis using LaTex. I am making this decision because I don't I'm gonna learn it after I finish my PhD :P I reckon the "push" factor won't be there, and I'll be doomed to be a MS Word user for the rest of my academic life. So, better LaTex now then never! :)

Anywayz... it seems to be going well at the moment. The only complaints I have is that it takes time getting used to reading your text in an editor... even one with neat tools and a nice user interface. Another thing is that, writing equations and constructing tables by yourself can be a pain in the backside since you'd have to really2 know the proper symbols and formatting styles, respectively. But Alhamdulillaah for some free aps online that make these two tasks doable :) Oh, and there's the compilation issue... You see, writing a LaTex document is essentially 'programming'. If you get the syntax wrong, errors will come up and ure document won't load!

But I think all of that is outweighed by all the other benefits it offers. Automatic generation of TABLE OF CONTENTS, automatic figure and equation number and placement, automatic links generation (to references and also to sections and subsections etc.), automatic section, subsection and subsubsections numbering and formatting... etc. So, kira OK la...

Anywayz... it's definitely not as easy as MS Word... but I know I have to learn it. Bak kata Azrinudin... MS Word is for writing letters :P So, better start knowing LaTex so taht I won't be left behind in academic writing for the Sciences.... Oraits... Salaaam

My current dilemma with my PhD is choosing an engine for decision making. What decisions to make? Well... now I have a bunch of video segments, where each has specific soccer events in them. Now... since I've never used any machine learning or statistical methods in my work... I am facing difficulty even in starting to plan about the whole thing. What to use as features? How to train and test? Which engine to use? The Hidden Markov Models seems practical... but like I said, dunno where to start. The Support Vector Machine could also be a good candidate as if modeled properly, can solve non-linearly-separable problems quite easily. Then of course, there's the Bayesian Decision Theory... Bayesian classifiers seem simple to understand... but at one point, I get lost. Hahahaha! Anywayz... this is where I am now. I pray to God to help me search for what I should find... Ameen :D Okeh, meh sambung kerja...

Hahahaha! If buying a PhD was ever so legal... ethically I mean, I think I'd already be swiping my CC :P But alas, the core of the PhD is that it in itself is a training process. So, you can't buy the training experience , but you sure hecks can purchase the 'training-kits' - the semester fees etc.

I don't know how, but some websites claim that they can provide you with a degree (Bachelors, Masters or even PhDs) just in a matter of days! One particular website promised to deliver within 5-days. Hmmmm... Not a new thing, but forever will it be weird.

I read once that you can get the degree (at one website, referred to as Instant Degree?) based on what you already know. How is this possible ek? And some websites go further to claim that the degrees are from reputable institutions... which I highly doubt. They also list out what you will get after buying their degrees:

• Make more money 
• Qualify for management positions 
• Start being considered for promotions on your job
• Have the once piece of paper that will open up a world of opportunities for you and your family
• Finally get over the hump that has held you back for so long
• Get your degree without having to take out a huge loan from the government to enter college
• Have a degree in your chosen field 10 times faster than you would attending school for two, four, six, or even eight years 
• Impress your friends and family with your college credentials and have them wondering how on earth did you ever have time to get a degree 
• Experience all of the advantages that having a college degree brings without having to do any of the hard work to achieve it

Indeed these opportunities exists if one has a good piece of paper... but it doesn't mean that these things WILL happen, ye dok? Furthermore, with a bought degree? Aiyaa... Mmg de very2 pelik one. Especially if it's a PhD (which the website is offering for USD180!)... At the moment, I am struggling to make ends meet for my own PhD... and to have someone say that you can just buy one just like that? Simply makes me fenin.

Anywayz, I've just actually scratched the surface of these instant degrees. This topic certainly has made me interested to know more... not for the sake of buying a degree, but maybe something I can use as modal for conversation pieces. Hahahaha! Okes. Sambung balik the actual degree work... meh buat PhD cara susah :)

PhD... You can come up with many names for this abbreviation. The true name is of course Philosophical Doctor, but most will just say Doctor of Philosophy (which brings me to the question... why not DPh. instead of PhD? Pelik tapi benarrr...). Anywayz, the other names may include: Permanent Head Damage, Pemelihara Hantu Dogol (the PhD is your baby, and it could be a "hantu dogol"), Perantau Hilang Direction, Perawi Himpunan Data, Pomen Hilang Dadu, Piiiigi daH Dey!!!, dan sebagainya.... Ok, most of them I made up myself lah... but I am qualified what to make up all those name becuz I am now experiencing bringing up my hantu dogol :D 

Anywayz, today I'd like to share a small yet useful experience of my PhD training... I started our writing a paper, which I intend to publish in a low impact factor journal. It started out with a topic... which I slowly developed to convey idea A. Then, as I wrote, and as I got feedback from other people (friends, supervisor and other people), the paper started to take on a life of its own... (gulp!). Slowly the title started to make no sense anymore... then the point of view also changed. It went from proposing idea A, to using idea A as a mere strategy to convey idea B! ... Then as I wrote some more, and after a few long months... the idea seemed to make more sense if it were done in a different way (i.e. idea C). Now, idea C was totally different from idea B, resulting in my ditching idea B altogether. But at the same time, idea B came from idea A, but idea A cannot be dismissed altogether as it had the main building block of the work. So now, I faced the challenge of strategic restructuring, where I had to come up with a container which could encapsulate idea C whilst not running away from the main concept of idea A. This resulted in myself having the guts to produce idea D, which was actually already in my mind, but due to the presence of idea B (which was now defunct)... had to be repressed until further notice :) But now since idea B is gone, and I can concentrate on idea C, idea D had the chance to resurface, which coincidentally tallied with idea A :D So alhamdulillaah, idea C is now possible :D

Anywayz, what I want to convey in this post is that, sometimes... when writing academic papers, especially by an experienced person... ideas can change. Hecks, I think now even the title of the paper will become something else. Writing is a process, and it is no wonder that academics take a long time to write papers... Now I understand that it can be very challenging in writing... If I don't have a good plan... it's gonna be really2 messy. Even with this paper, I actually did have a plan... but it proved to be quite weak as the ideas shifted from A to B to C. Now even D is slowly changing... but I think for that one, I can come up with another small paper? Kot2 la. Hehehehe...

Anywayz... just to tell my story. Tq for reading :D Assalaam aleykom...

PS:- Any other pre or post PhDs, who have tips about writing papers, or about getting thru a PhD... your comments are very2 welcome.

Assalaam aleykom :) I have been trying to get this one paper done, and it's taking me like, forever. Started writing the first draft somewhere in October 2009, then made some corrections and gave it to my super in December 2009. Got it back a few weeks later (or was it more than 1-month later?), met with the super to listen to her suggestions and comments, then gave it to another guy (quite impressive his CV actually) for his opinion... took into consideration what he had to say... and now... I am thinking of changing the paper's content :| I mean, write it in a totally different way, maybe even change the main idea as I am starting to discover obvious things as I write. Hehehe... I think this is how academic research is suppoed to go... U think U got one idea that's worth publishing.. then U realize it's crap after a few weeks/month. Then suddenly a spark gets ignited where you look at the work from a totally different (and refreshed!) point of view... Alhamdulillaah!!!

Anywayz, I will continue writing this paper. Need to finish it, then can concentrate on improving my overall framework :D Susah betul buat PhD ni iye... sapa yg leh habis cepat mmg aku tabik spring :D

Oraitey, back to work....

Assalaam aleykom WBT :) I've been thinking about my future a bit lately... my future as an academician. What prospects will I have...? Can I befriend or compete with the pros..? Will I become a good academic and not fall into complacency, a disease that I've seen befallen many 'impostors' of our time..? Will I be a proud deutch-bag of an academician, holding strong to the 'dr' title that I will hopefully get.. killing hopes of 'helpless' children of the spoon feeding era..? Will I actually be able to contribute (sincerely) in the world of academia..? Am I worthy of a place among the pre-elites and elites..?

So many questions... so little training... :| Well... actually I wanted to talk about the 'training' phase for an academic. And that training is this degree of PhD... Doctor of Philosophy :D

In order to answer all of the questions posed above with even a hint of dignity... I believe one of the main factors would be the training. PhD is a time where mistakes are made... where skills are honed... where tricks of the trade are learnt... where one actually dives into the art of publishing for the world to see...

Like any other training, a proper PhD necessitates a proper 'trainer'. This normally comes in the form of a human entity given the title Supervisor. It is normally this person who will shape to some extent... the end result that a candidate will become. The trainer has to firstly be trained! Trained in the arts of academia! Trained in the arts of mentor-ship! Trained in the arts of knowledge dissemination... Trained in the art of... training... passion must be there...

With a good trainer... the 'trained' will insyaAllaah prosper. With a good trainer, the 'trained' will insyaAllaah be trained... and hence ready to START... ready to INITIATE his/her journey into the world of violent criticism, writing and redoing all that has been done during training...

Trainer and trained... trainer and trained... trainer and trained...

Train....

Train....

Ok. Actually I had nothing to write about. So I am mem-bebel-ing :D T'is ok I guess... cuz t'is my blog anyway... HUA HUA HUA!!!

Hmmmm... tetiba teringat lagu Drops of Jupiter....

Okes. Back to work!!! Or more correct... BACK TO HOME!!! Cuz oredi 1.56am, and wifey alone at home with daughter. Hehehehe... Ish, must go back now. TQ for reading :D

Salaaam

Alhamdulillaahirobbil'aalameen

Today, myself and my good friend Aizal Kusyairi paid a visit to Low Yat Plaza to get my brand new system. I initially only asked the guy about RAM configurations... but Aizal being Aizal... he had to overdeliver... and instead came up with a whole PC configuration! Thank you very2 much bro :D

Reason to buy the PC? Well... lately I've been commuting from my house in Nibong Tebal to Penang (Island). Have to do this... because now my wife is pregnant (3-4 months)... so I have to be around the house to attend to her and also my daughter's needs :D

Due to these, I have to do the work in the lab (where my workstation is), and also try to get home in time to pick up my daughter from school (must bertolak at around 4:40pm the latest from Penang island to avoid traffic congestion). The major drawbacks however are twofold.

Firstly, I spend around 1.5-2 hours, daily, commuting... That time might be better spent writing MATLAB codes or coming up with my thesis outline or even a conference/journal paper. Secondly, the cost is quite unbearable, as the TOLL ALONE IS RM11.20 per day :( So, I think I need to station myself at home for most of the week. One solution is to buy a PC workstation, so that can work from home. The current laptop I have is a bit too slow (RAM pon 1Gig je...) to handle each 40,000 images per video file for my work.

So tu la pasal why I need to get this system. Bukan pasal mengada... but it is indeed a necessity :) Anywayz... what started as a memory related question (to Aizal) is now a full system with quite impressive specifications (tq again banyak2 En Aizal Cikaro):

1) AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor (Yes, I've gone anti-Intel again) - 3.2 GHz (8Mb Cache)

2) Asus AM3 M4A785TD-M EVO Motherboard

3) Crossair DDR3 1333 4GB (Pair) RAM
4) Asus LCD Monitor (VH222H) - with built-in speakers (quite ok the sound)

5) Western Digital Hard Disk (BLACK) - 1 Terabyte 7200RPM SATA

6) Cooler Master ELITE 334 PC Casing

7) SAMSUNG (kampung dusun) DVDRW SATA

And all of that, running on a Windows XP Pro... very2 de fast one :) Alhamdulillaah. The system is now in its final stage of installation (Microsoft Word, Antivirus etc.). This is happening as we speak (read for you and write for me :P)

Anywayz... Just to share a silly but USEFUL experience (as how most experiences are)

We faced a glitch whilst initially trying to power up the machine. Tried to switch it on after installing the CPU, heat sink, RAMs, hard disk etc. The LED light on the ASUS motherboard was on! But for some reason, the CPU fan was not spinning :( This was really2 really2 really2 not normal. Thought about many techie reasons e.g.:

1) RAM tak betul... maybe this motherboard only supported 1GB installations... Aiyaaa.... But if the RAM was the problem, the fan should still be turning

2) Not enough power form the power supply. But we were already running a 460 Watt Cooler Master...

3) Might have accidentally scratched the motherboard surface while trying to pasang the CPU's heat sink & fan

4) Motherboard was not original... suspected a 'rogol-ed' version :P

Lepas dah lama godek... I finally tried to unplug the CPU. Tengok2... we plugged in the wrong power socket to the motherboard. Dayem... We accidentally plugged in a 6-socket adaptor to a 4-socket... ended up karen tak masuk la! This is almost equivalent to not being able to switch on your PC, while the problem was that the power cable is unplugged. Lama jugak la we took to solve this simple thing :P This shows that sometimes (or sometimes, most of the time...), the answer is so simple yet we overlook it due to the other stuff that we have to do :D

Okes. Tu je kot. Tq for reading :D

Assalaam aleykom WBT :) And a very good day to all... Alhamdulillaah, had a good drive today from Nib. Tebal to USM. I must say that the (almost finished) improvements made to the bridge has certainly made the traffic a whole lot more bearable for bridge-folks :) Used to be a crazy bottle-neck from the toll plaza entering the bridge, but now... just by adding one (or is it two? tak perasan pulak...) lane(s)... things seem to be clearing up :) I can even leave my house at around 7 a.m. and still be able to catch the "good-flow" onto the bridge.

Anywayz... Today's post is not about my drive or the 20-something-year old Penang bridge. It's about Miley Cyrus and her song... THE CLIMB :) And as you can see from the title... ada relation la pulak between M.C. and oso P.H.D. Hehehehe... what de relation? Okes....T'is like this...

Evertytime I hear her song on the radio (or on my phone. I know lagu bebudak... tapi ok gak apa melody dia :P) one part (the chorus ke? Ke apa ke ntah orang panggil...) relates to my current situation really well:

Ain't about how fast i get there

Ain't about what's waitin' on the other side

...

...

...

It's the climb.... Yea yea yea yeawooo yo yo ala gazambo and the rest...

So I think all PhD-doers can oso relate to what I'm relating to. If cannot? Okes, I will explain.

Actually... the PhD is not about how fast you finish it. Some tho, are genius enuff to finish before time (which is great for them! syabbas!). I have no rows with them. But just don't make that a yeard stick of the quality of the degree :) Don't be:

"I did it in 2.33-years! Wallaahooo!!!!"

... Or...

"Saya habis PhD saya umor 21 tahun awak tau dok.... [disusuli gelak setannn....]" etc.

And it also ain't about the DR that you're gonna get at the end of the journey... The Doctor of Philosophy is a great title to achieve, mashaAllaah :) But it all don't end there... T'is just a beginning :D Don't expect or be:

STUDENT: "Selamat pagi Dr. Takrom Bilaghlul"

...Or...

STUDENT: "Encik Mat Samid.... saya nak tanya...." [DR MENJAMPUK DENGAN GANAS]

The DR: "HOIT! What did you say? I didn't spend 4-years for some half-brained paramecium to call me ENCIK!" - ni exaggerate je ni... hehehehe. I myself will never do this insyaAllaah.

Someone once told me (A professor) that it's the training that we get during the PhD is what matters. How to do the research. How to get yerself into deep dung, and then get yerself out of it... and at the same time emerging triumphant!!! Yeahooo!!!! ... In short... sama macam apa Hannah Montana kita kata la... IT'S THE CLIMB!!!!! (Perasan tak, kalau buang 'L', jadik nama bank! HAHAHAHAHA! ok, iklan je tu...). Pendek kata, it's the journey that counts :) Tak sangka she can make a PhD song. Hehehehehe...

But of course, hopefully we get a good "travel guide". Some are fortunate enuff to get very2 good ones (DLYNN!!! AKU JELEESSS :P). But for the vast majority, most have to climb on their own. But nonetheless, it will be a good journey also insyaAllaah. Good guide or bad guide... the climb will be challenging nonetheless.

The main supervision that we need of course, is from the ALL MIGHTY ALLAAH :D Ask from him, and insyaAllaah all will be well.

Orait. anyway... itu lah kisah Miley Cyrus dan PhD :D T'is da climb MAT NABIL TAJUDIN!!!!

Salaam

[WARNING! This is a very boring post. It is only here becuz the blogger thinks he needs to update his blog]

It's been like 10,000 days since I last updated my blog. Fear not... I am not cutting off my blogging fingers. It's just that for the past few months, I've been quite busy figuring out how to add value to my PhD work... By saying that... I'm actually quite pleased to be saying that I'm busy :D I mean... for the past many years of my life... things have been quite monotonous, un-eventful and... slacking :D I mean I myself... a slacker... with no objective in life or work! Now that I am busy... this means I am insyaAllaah going somewhere. And this brings some amount of joy to my life :D hehehehe... anywayz... enuff of that. Today I would like to talk about audio analysis.

Now I am in the process of extracting the audio (sound) part from my video documents. Yes, I am (sort of) legally ripping out the sound track from my videos. And all in the name of research. I have also filled my hard-disk with hundreds of gigabytes of information... many of which I might not even need. These audio files are really eating up a lot of this borrowed resource (the hard disk I mean... I am basically 'borrowing' it from my supervisor... who bought this PC using her grant money) :D And I am using MATLAB. All the countless MATLAB functions I have downloaded from the Internet.. they are proving to be useful Alhamdulillaah! Thank you oh brilliant programmers...

Anywayz... Now I am actually in new territory. Ripping audio is quite easy. But when it comes to analyzing what I've ripped... I get stuck. And am continuing to get stuck along the way. Now I am diving into terms used by famous celebrities such as Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowel, as well as unknown academics such as Dian Tjondronegoro, Sun Xuejing, Yong Rui, Poh, Joseph Kittler and the rest!

PITCH! VOLUME! DYNAMIC RANGE! AUDIO FRAMES! TIME STEPS! FRAME SHIFT (another word for time steps)! HOP SIZE (another word for frame shift... which makes it also another word for time steps)! CLIPS!

And after finding out how to get, process and analyze those things I just mentioned... now I need to come up with a way to make sense of what I've gotten, processed and analyzed. Hahahahaha! Tres interresant, non?

Anywayz... that is all. I would however like to thank Noris Norowi for her help in my 1/2-way and 1/2-completed audio journey. I would also like to thank a newly found friend on the Internet by the nick-name of Ita... You have been so kind to explain in crystal clear words about the basics of audio... I am forever grateful :D

But of course... ALL PRAISE BE TO ALLAAH!!! For guiding me this far. I beg for more guidance oh GOD... for I (as well as other PhD seekers) am in forever need for YOU to show me the way on this noble path.

Okes... itu je. Told'ya it was a boring post :D Hehehehe. Tq for reading anyway.

Assalaam aleykom WBT and Have a good one....

(http://www.azclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/phd.gif)

Assalaam aleykom WBT...

Thought of writing down what I think I should do after receiving comments regarding a presentation I did last Thursday...

1. Table-ize (men-table-kan :P) all the literature that I've referred to in order to come up with my current work: For LITERATURE and MOTIVATION purposes (and also for hypothesis writing...)
2. Find a way to convey the crystallized idea of my work. I think... I have formed that crystal... but it is in a very2 rough condition, and needs a lot of polishing to show it's sparkle! SPARKLE ON OH CRYSTAL BALL!!!
3. Do 1 and 2 first! Hahahaha! Cannot do too much at one time... I will definitely lose focus and start to think of fishing :D Which, insyaAllaah I and Azrul will be doing somewhere this month.

So this is what I will be doing relating to my PHD work. My PHD by the way, is turning out to be a 'systems' sort of PHD...  might also be similar to what SERVICE SCIENCE, MANAGEMENT and ENGINEERING (SSME - currently being promoted by IBM) is all about... I think...

Okes. Let's table-ize the work of past giants! Mostly giants from China, China-USA, Spanish and also Singaporeans. None from Malaysia though... where to find eh? Or am I looking in the wrong places? (Already looking thru Engineering Village, IEEE, ACM and Elsevier....)

Orait. Bye2 :D Assalaam aleykom WBT...

Image from https://saxonuniform.com/forms/forms_images/deluxePhdrobe.jpg

18th Feb 2007 - 17th Feb 2008 (1 year)

18th Feb 2008 - 25th Nov 2008 (~ 9 months ++)

3 years - 1.75 years = 1.25 years left to complete my PhD.

That's 1 year and 3 months to go before nak kena ask for time-extension. Macam Daytona la pulak. Gulp! Haven't got that much done. Still many things to do. And the worst thing is that... I don't think I'm sticking to the plan :( Or am I exaggerating... Hmmmm. Let us see:

1) Textual Analysis:

• (Done) Extract and Recognize video text
  
• (Not done) Sports-specific term database 
  

2) Visual Analysis:

• (Doing) HSI color space analysis for camera-view classification
  
• (Not done) Aural and Visual cue extraction
  
• (Not done) Event and Concept modelling for selected sports videos (i.e. soccer and tennis)
  
• (Not done) Event/Concept detection based on audio visual cues
  

3) Indexing (Not done)

4) Sample prototype (Not done)

5) Thesis writing... Of course, not done yet also

 

But Alhamdulillaah, managed to publish 2 conference papers. But still, need that elusive journal publication to satisfy UPM's requirement for a PhD (Uni. of Otago pon takde requirement ni. UPM tinggi sket standard :D Hehehehe. Tapi takpe. This will insya-Allaah be good practice...).

Hmmm....

So, seperti mana tuan2 dan puan2 dapat lihat... banyak lagi benda nak buat. Sekarang ni baru sedar kesuntukan masa. And it seems like I am not 100% following my plan of action (which only I know about... sebab ada kat depan mata ni). Ish... Nak kena kick myself in da back-side ni. Ask myself to kerja lagi kuat! Jangan banyak main dan mancing ikan tenggiri aje (even tho I think I prefer that to doing PhD :P).

Okes. Takpe. Bak kata ramai orang... "Tau takpe!"... 

But I would like to side track :) "Tau takpe... TAK CUKUP! Dah Tau tu... apa laga! Amik tindakan!" :D

Orait. Mari buat PhD. Doakan lah kejayaan saya, orang rumah saya Nor Shazwan Mohamed, dan juga rakan2 seperjuangan di dalam dan luar negara... dan juga kepada sesiapa yang sedang menuntut ilmu ke jalan Allaah :D

Assalaam aleykom WBT.

- coretan pelajar tua

Salaam to all :)

You have agreed to do PhD. So, you will now face the torture never before faced by Zukeri Abdullah. You will not be bestowed the honor of a research grant. However, it is foretold that your expenses will be in the high 10s of thousands. All of which will come back to haunt you.

But do not despair. Run this piece of code. MATLAB will tell you when to stop. Do not stop untill MATLAB stops YOU! For if you prematurely exit your cause, the code will devour your very intestines. Anyway:

if h(j,k) >= 0.175 && h(j,k) <= 0.264 && i(j,k) >= 0.25

                            hTemp(j,k)=h(j,k);

                            sTemp(j,k)=s(j,k);

                            iTemp(j,k)=i(j,k);

                            if (sTemp(j,k)~= 0  && iTemp(j,k)~= 1 )                          

    if sTemp(j,k)<= 0.3

                                    hTemp(j,k) = 1;

                            end

end

And you will realize the importance of Matlab and also the concepts of computer programming. Never must you kneel down to the pressures of the past. Think of the present and future. Your image processing toolbox will not leave you unless you leave it behind.

Also, do not fret over the files that were accidentally and magically deleted by Matlab (I think the blame is justifiable, even though proof is lacking). For your work in the OSAMA folder was not that much, yet. Alhamdulillaahi Rabbil 'Aalameen!!!

Ok. Now the images are done. I will give you the oppurtunity to show you what you have done for you. 

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Sekarang dah pukul 1:50 pagi. Yang menulis blog ini bukanlah Alpyan. TetapiSang Gedembai yang sedang busan. Jgn mare wahai pembaca2 ku :) Tq for reading anywayz :D

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Assalaam aleykom WBT

To all my beloved readers :) I have recently (semalam as a matter of fact) set up my PhD blog. Bukan apa, becuz I spend quite a lot of time typing and blogging, I think it would be just swell to set up a blog about my research.

At the moment, saya baru je la letak benda2 intro. Tu pon not well written... pasal tulis pon tak de berasakan apa2 outline :) Jadiikk... kot2 la sapa2 yg TERpergi, maka buleh la kasik komen2 apa2 pasal itu blog... ataupun komen2 pasal content dia? ataupun komen2 pasal rupa dia? ataupun apa2 komen yang membina ataupun membinasa :D
hehehehe...

Address dia panjang sket, tapi takpe la... pasal kot2 la ada orang search, at least URL ni ada keyword2 yg penting dalam area research saya :) Okes.... ini dia....

http://soccer-video-analysis.blogspot.com

Mari kita ber PHD!!!!

Hari ini, saya baru dapat tahu daripada kawan2, dan juga daripada email, yang saya telah dipilih utk menjadi salah seorang presenter pada colloquium yang namnya seperti di subjek header di atas.

Yang saya pasti, saya dipilih secara random... sebab pada firasat saya la, committee memang tak sempat nak baca paper2 yg dihantar oleh para participants (yg mana, saya rasa 98% memaksa diri hantar. hehehehe). Banyak sangat paper... so little time :( So, paper saya adalah antara yang ditarik keluar dari longgokan paper.

Hmmm... lepas ni makna nya saya kena prepare slides la utk present. Tapi takpe, 15 menet je, so tak le lama sangat :D

Annywayz, I am taking this opportunity to prepare for my International Conference on Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualization presentation. Sebab apa, paper yg saya hantar utk colloquium ni, adalah paper yang sama dengan paper yg saya submit utk conference yang saya cakap ni. TAPI!!!

Jangan takut... saya tak buat benda yg tak ber-etika. Pasal colliquium ni, bukannya ada publication pun. It's just a discussion of the do's and dont's of publishing... as well as to gain positive critism from otai2 research akt School of Computer Science USM ni, insya-Allaah.

So, kira ok la. Killing 2 birds with 1 stone :) Macam Che-Det la pulak iye? :P hehehehe.

Annnywayz... nanti dah settle presentation saya, insya-Allaah saya update lagik blog. Sekarang mau pi cuba carik idea utk slides.

Assalaam aleykom WBT dan Salaam Sejahtera

The life of a PhD. The life of a UPM-staff PhD. The life of a Research University PhD!!!

Which one to fulfill? Speed of completion, or the sincere thirst for knowledge...
One might say, "Both thou can get... so yelp not! Speed and know-how will be yours!!!"
But alas, threats are also at hand, for the last 7-years of blood and sweat will be determined by the 3-4 years of life in the anti-everglades... :(

Kill or be killed?

More of Be killed or Kill Yerself ya broigin moglenstein...

.....
...
..
.

But fear not for thou shall grant help from above :) Tha Lord will always be... and always answer the call from His minions!!! Talk sincerely, and ask for help! Ask for help at your for account and time... Not from a group that generally asks for... not even you now what?

Not to be selfish or self centered, but to ask help from the One you can only ask help from! Besides, you say and ASK with dignity 17-times a day obligatoryly :) But for girls, maybe less for you will have 'holidays' :)

.
..
...
.....

Anywayz, Be Killed or Kill Yerself??? Or would it be plain... Kill?
Always Kill... for kill will never result in death. Kill will be preceeded with 'A'...

A-kill....

A-kill Makaan :)

A-kill = Makaan :D

Assalaam aleykom WBT

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

As many of you know :) I am in the process of completing my PhD. Insya-Allaah, another 1.5 to 2++ years to go. The sooner the better, ameen! :D

Annywayz, selama saya kat sini, tak pernah pulak saya intro kan member2 saya dalam lab ni haa... Berikut merupakan makhluk2 pelik dan makhluk2 halus (LITERALLY!!!) yang ada dalam lab saya... Lab COMPUTER VISION RESEARCH GROUP, SCHOOL OF COMPUTER SCIENCES, USM, PENANG :D

Puan Noridayu Manshor - FSKTM, UPM colleague. PhD. student :) Siti Zubaidah Harun a.k.a. Ubay (Research Officer) Norhafizah Abdul Razak a.k.a. Peeja (Research Officer) Ahmed Adel Abu Shareha - PhD. student dari Jordan Mozaherul Hoque Abul Hasanat - PhD. student dari Bangladesh. Kawin dah ngan awek Malaysia... jawa Klang lagi. Dia ni camera shy... ntah apa pasal ntah... Mahmoud Jawarneh Mahmoud Saleh - PhD. student dari Jordan. Baruuu je kawin mamat ni. Ehsan Abbasnejad - Masters by Research student. Dari Iran :) Osama Radi Alia - PhD. student. Pun dari Jordan.Dan... last sekali :D

Associate Professor Dr. Mandava Rajeswari. SUPERVISOR saya, Ayu, Ahmed Adel, Osama dan Mahmoud... otai ni... mmg otai :D
Jadi, inilah dia warga lab CVRG saya. Pagi petang siang malam muka2 ni la yang saya nengok. Sib baik semua ok dan baik2 belaka.

Peeja ngan Ubay suka bawak makanan kalau ada duit.
Adel leh bagi pow rokok dia.
Osama plak terel bab2 agama.
Mahmoud pulak, ada bisnes makanan, so buleh aa kadang2 pow stok2 yg tak terjual (tapi jarang aaa :P).
Ehsan tak kedekut Nescafe RICH :D
Ayu mmg tak lekang keceriaan dia... hehehehe.
Mozaher? Haaa... mamat ni tukang kontroversi. Tapi takpe la, kalau takde kontroversi, tak de spice pulak idup ye dok :D

Dr Mandava Rajeswari? hehehehe. Dia mmg tukang motivasi dan pemberi semangat dan juga pemberi nasihat serta tukang push kalau2 dia nampak ada student dia yang malas malas... macam saya ni ha.

Tapi takpa...

Takkan ku malas lagi wahai supervisor ku!

Okes... mari ber PHD! :D

PS:- asal susah sangat nak install matlab ni?

Hari tu saya ingat memang tikus kesayangan saya dah kematian. Sedih jugak, pasal tikus ni memang saya sayang, dan 'bela' semenjak saya beli dia pada tahun 2005. Kalau ikut kata 'doktor', dia memang dah 75% mati :( Last2 hari tu pon, saya letak on 'LIFE-SUPPORT' utk beberapa bulan.

Tikus saya ni kaler hitam. Kalau kena cara lighting dia, buleh nampak macam kaler2 hitam metallic berkilat lagi. Dia suka saya main2 kepala dia. Selalu lepas saya main, dia bunyi ala2 klik klik chit chit gitu. Tapi tu la, lately masa dia dah 'tak ada', saya terpaksa la tukar kepada 'hewan' lain. Hewan baru saya ni lagik besar! So tak berapa nak best la. Sebab saya sukak yang kecik kecik nye tikus gitu :( Tapi takpe... saya still nak usahakan supaya saya dapat menyelamatkan tikus kesayangan saya ni.

TIBA-IBA!!!!

Haaa... muncul seekor lagi tikus yang mana sindrom dia TERBALIK dengan sindrom tikus saya.
Tikus saya ni, dia punya 'sel-sel' dah mati kat bahagian ekoq :( So kalau nak selamatkan dia, memang macam kena carik 'ekoq' ganti. Tapi macam mana nak ganti ekor tikus! 'Urat2' dalam ekor tu saya mana tau nak cabut dan sambung-sambung! Ingat saya ni surgeon ka...


Tapi tu la, dengan kuasa Allaah, seekor lagi tikus ni datang. Tapi dia ni memang dah konfirm 'brain dead', dan hanya sebahagian dari kepala dia yang berfungsi. Dan... the GOOD NEWS! Ekoq dia masih elok!!!!

So, saya pun mengambil keputusan, utk. MEMBEDAH!!! Tak kira la jadi ke tak... nothing to lose anyway. Kalau saya tak bedah pon, tikus saya memang tak lama lagi akan K.O. sepenuhnya. Kalau saya bedah... at least I've tried to do something to save my MOUSE!!!! Oh TIKUS KU!!!!

Oleh yg demikian, berbekalkan pengalaman menyambung-nyambung wayar letrik kat rumah, dan jugak dengan berbekalkan mata tanpa apa2 magnifying glass, saya pun memulakan pembedahan.

Tik Tok Tik Tok...

Alhamdulillaah, tak banyak 'darah' dan 'spare-spare parts' tikus yang terkeluar. Cuma 'kulit' dia je la yang ter-keluar dan terpaksa dibuang sikit2. But overall... the operation was a success! Praise ALLAAH!!! :D

Ok. Below adalah gambar2 Pembedahan di Makmal Computer Vision, School of Computer Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Penang.

Selamat Hari Raya Haji :D

Gambar tikus 'mangsa' yang mana spare-part telah diambil

Gambar sambungan wayar USB (Ada benang kat dalam tu rupanya. Buat apa, saya pon tak sure)

Gambar selepas 'surgery'

Gambar selepas di-'plaster'

Gambar tetikus LOGITECH yang telah boleh digunakan kembali. Alhamdulillaah