Have been here for one week already...

I have been here for one week already and the outcome? Well, one paper is out and sent to my supervisor for comment, presentation at seminar is also done, and it's time to concentrate on the model for MISTA.



We would still try to solve it using mathematical software although there is no possibility that we can get the result. I'm now looking into Hamiez and Hao paper which is very much relevant to what I'm doing at this moment. I need to understand further of how the problem is formulated and then start to program it using JAVA. Hopefully we could at least produce an extended abstract from it with full paper on the way...


Well, few more days to go. I'm hoping that the weather will be fine on Sunday so that the flights won't get delayed. I miss my family...

The sun is shining...

The sun is out and will surely melt the snow but with the current temperature of -6 C, it surely will take some time. It's a nice scenery still, but everywhere people are shovelling the snow and this is the dreading time as it's wet and murky.

The one good thing that I can educate people about my coming here is that Turkey really has snow. Most of them thought that Turkey is a mediterranean country and the weather should be mild and around teen degree celcius. But it's not. Over here in Eskisehir, the forecast minimum temperature is -13C! The lowest that I have been into was -8 C in McMinnville, Oregon.

When it's snowing, it certainly portrays a nice feeling but the side effect of it, is not that pleasing. Mujgan's car broke down yesterday while travelling to the meeting place and today, Tuba is supposed to pick me up for the office. The road condition is slippery during this time and drivers would really need to be very careful as the car can easily get skidded.

About work, something struck into my mind when I woke up this morning and I now have an idea on how to use the tuple for my heuristics attempt! Thank God for this...

It's snowing here...

It's snowing from the morning and if it goes on and on, it might reach one foot! I managed to go out and snap some pictures on the way to the cafetaria. It really feels nice to do my work while it is snowing outside. This will be the paper to remember as I write it while it's snowing.

A friend commented that I should stick to heuristics as it's what our ASAP group is concentrating on. Should I waste my time doing something mathematical? Well, my view is that my research is about problem solving. I presume, problems can be solved using whatever methods available. It is a research anyway, and I think it's good to explore whatever methods there are. I may get solution or I may not get solution using mathematical software. Whether I get the solution or not, I may try heuristics too and I can make comparisons on both methods. As long as it adds to the body of knowledge, I certainly make a contribution and this is all PhD is all about - contribution to the body of knowledge. Well, I might get views from Mujgan and my supervisor too... In the meantime, let's enjoy the opportunity that I have at this moment, and hopefully the outcome in terms of papers that I produce from this visit will be accepted. Who knows I might write from Dublin and Netherland soon...

Update from Eskisehir, Turkey

Surprisingly, I can get internet connection from the guest house this morning and this will certainly save the trouble of going to the office at the Industrial Engineering. They have just moved to a new building which is at the other end of the University. With the minus 4 celcuis temperature outside, I'd rather stay here as it's close to where I can get my food supplies. I don't intend to go out yet as I still have cornflakes and bread for my breakfast. I miss my morning coffee though as the kitchen here is not that equipped with kettle and so on.

We are making some progress; we already have the weights for the criterias needed to determine the level of importance. I still need to send out questionaires to get more judgements on the weights. I will email to my fellow NMCs hopefully they could spare some time to respond to our questionaire.

The plan is to produce two abstracts for MISTA and IMASPORTS and to work on the full paper for journal. It really is tough to develop the model, even Mujgan agreed on it too. The problem is NP-hard and it's not possible to get optimal solution. I might have to struggle on my heuristics to get the solution.

I have lots of things to work on; this coming Tuesday, I have to present at the seminar for the post-graduate and I need to prepare the slides too. I don't know how much they can get from me; lectures are delivered in Turkish. According to them, they tried to include like 30% in English but it didn't work. I wonder if they could understand what I'll be talking about...even if I speak in Malay, they would not be able to distinguish it :-)

Apart from a little hiccups while travelling here, I'm glad that I came as I met lots of good people here especially Mujgan...

Top 10 university...

The RAE 2008 report is out and confirmed that our University is ranked seven in terms of research. A really world-class university don't you think? And how proud I am to be in one!

We had an email from our new Head of school congratulating everyone for the success. An excerpt of the email :

Our overall profile, across a combination of outputs, environment and esteem is:
30% of our activity graded 4* (world class) 50% of our activity graded 3* (internationally leading) 20% of our activity graded 2* (internationally recognised) 0% of our activity graded 1* (nationally recognised) 0% of our activity graded 0* (unclassified). This profile ranks us 8th among all UK Computer Science schools (both if you compute a grade point average and also if you rank profiles using pic medal table style). This is a fantastic achievement for the School and places us in the top 10% of UK CS schools.

Come to think of it, I wonder when this success will happen to our faculty or our university back home. They want to be world class but they don't want to me to study in a world class university. Part of their remarks when I try to apply for conversion from split to fulltime, if I have problem with my kids' medical, might as well I study in my home country...Can you believe that! They certainly don't know how to maximise opportunities...

On my way to Eskisehir, Turkey...

Turkey, here I come...tentatively 15 - 31 December, 2008. I'm not going there for fun, but to do a lot of work. My supervisor is expecting two full papers for MISTA! If not, abstracts that will surely be turned into full paper. Tough job eh...

On another note, I checked on KPT's website just now and found that they have already paid the school fees in a mission to take advantage of the declining GPB. Guess what, we save around RM10K. I don't see any reason why they would not convert my scholarship to fulltime. The reason being, the same amount (RM) that KPT used to pay last time, is more than enough to pay for the fulltime fees now as for split program, the fee is 87% from fulltime amount.

It's already December!

Time flies and it's already December! It's time to put on the turbo engine. No choice, I'd have to force myself and concentrate on my research. My other half has come back here and I wouldn't have to worry about managing the kids anymore. Even if it's cold and dark, I need to stay in the office at least till 5.00 pm.

The research writing course that I attended is almost complete with another session tomorrow. My mission to write a page a day is not accomplished :-) Oh well, I guess I would have to start writing bit by bit starting from now.

Call for paper for MISTA is already out and I would have to think of what I would submit to the conference. Probably we would properly assign weights using ANP/AHP to the current project that I'm working on. And to do that, I would have to make a trip to Eskisehir, Turkey to see Mujgan. Hopefully my supervisor will approve on the idea...

It's too cold in here!

This few days, the temperature goes down real bad; lowest being -2 degree celcius. It really is cold here in the office and I'm wearing my jacket in the office! I really don't understand the system here; I heard that the building is a smart building - by right if it's cold, the heater must turn on by itself. But according to them, they heat up the building at night as during night time the electricity is cheaper than during the day. The heat is supposed to stay during the day but it didn't. When I got here this morning, the radiator felt warm but now it's icy cold...

I'm wearing my full thermal, a thick jeans, a long-sleeve t-shirt, a sweater, double socks but it didn't help. Maybe I should bring along my sleeping bag to the office tomorrow!

Catching up time...

Fasting month is done, raya is done, it's time to catch up! I join the Research Writing class, organised by CELE. It's a 9 week course, meeting once a week. Hopefully it will motivate me to start writing. I'm being very ambitious - hoping to write a page a day and by the time the course ends, I'd have 56 pages of the LR! Let's see if it happens :-)

I'm reverting to the original plan of experimenting using heuristics. My supervisor did not like the idea of doing exact algo as it is difficult to get the optimal solution. For small instances, probably we can opt for IP or CP but for my case, it's gonna be tough. Probably when I'm done with my PhD, I'd give it a try.

I'm currently looking into tabu search. I found a book chapter which the authors experimented using tabu. Hopefully it will help.

It's almost end of October and the due date for the annals of PATAT is coming closer. Oh well, I'll have to send it to other journal then...

Yesterday I received an email from the coordinator of ASAP seminar. I'd have to present my work on Dec 11, 2008. Hopefully by then I'd have something to show.

The course is over already...

Glad it's Friday already...and the course ended at 12.30 pm and we are currently waiting for our private hire to go back to Nottingham. Since the ID is still working, I'm taking the opportunity to write something in this blog.

What did I gain from this course? Well, I gained a lot on the methods frequently being used to tackle combinatorial problems. The recent one being branch-and-price. He was comparing it against branch-and-cut. The difference is that branch-and-price is adding variables while branch-and-cut is adding constraints. Whatever it is, I don't think I'll be using the methods as we are more on heuristics and certainly I'll be using the metaheuristics methods to tackle my problem.

I'm still worried about being able to produce my full paper which will be due on Nov 1st, 2008. I'm planning to do the experiment using ILOG OPL and hopefully I'll get a reasonable result to be included in the full paper that will be due sooooooonnnnn....

The cab is almost here already...

Away from the office again...

This week, I'm at the University of Southampton for NATCOR course on Combinatorial Optimisation. The course is very relevant to what I'm currently researching on. So far the course it ok but I must note a very unusual thing that really exist here - they still have the black/green board and believe it or not, they really use the chalk and duster that our school teacher used when I was in primary school!

I haven't got to visit the city just as yet. But I heard it's beautiful during night time. Probably we will explore some area tonight.

Water rafting at Rapides de Lechine in Montreal

It has been quite a while since the last post. Well, I just got the pictures on rafting that I'd like to post in this blog...


10 of us in a boat, plus the guard of course...It was really scary in the beginning but I enjoyed it. So happen that I was seated on the left side, easy for me to paddle as I'm a left handed...

It looks easy isn't it...you can see a smile on my face :-)














Looks like I'm the only one with the yellow helmet... Actually there are sizes for the helmet; I guess yellow one are meant for small heads!















Opps, can't see me...












These pictures are courtesy of Paula, the last two from behind (right side). It costs CAN 7 per picture sent through email.

Ready to check out...

Glad that it's Saturday and it's time to go home! I have already packed my bag, stopped by at this business center to do online check in and print my boarding pass for my flight tonight. I had a good rest last night; that water rafting really used up my energy that I didn't have left to go for shopping as I dozed off from 5.30 pm, got up at 8.15 pm for prayer and dozed off again...

Yesterday was really a fun experience. I had the chance to do water rafting at the rapids nearby. There were 10 in a boat, and we rafted, went through the rapids and at the last one, the Big John, we were supposed to jump but instead I fall off inside the boat, and didn't get to jump into the rapids. A few of our friends jumped and it was then time to rescue them!

I'd have to go as somebody needs to use this pc...Will post some pictures when I get back home...

What a relief!

I'm done with the presentatation and what a relief! My supervisor said, good job! and thumbs up too from Jay who happened to sit in my session. I had 3 or 4 good questions and the fact that my supervisor is around to back me up, is certainly a relief.

There were around 30 people attending the breakup sessions; so happen that the second speaker was also talking about match importance and it made my life easy as I can easily referred to his talk especially on the related work done on the subject matter. All in all, it was a worthwhile experience; getting to know people in the subject area is certainly an added advantage. I get to meet the authors that have been an inspiration to what I'm researching and hopefully one of the would be external examiner for my viva...

Live and kicking!

The conference is so casual; people came in jeans and even shorts! It really is different from the conference held in Malaysia with so much protocols and so on. The break up sessions are chaired by the last speaker for the session. I happen to be the last speaker for my session, but luckily somebody volunteered to be the chairperson and I'd be able to concentrate on my presentation which will be this afternoon at three. Am I scared? Of course there are butterflies in my stomach! Like it or not, it has to be done and considering lots of international people around, I think my English is quite ok...

Safe and sound in Canada!

Got here safely although our flight was delayed for 1.5 hrs because of faulty emergency lights at the isle. Reached Montreal at around 2 am UK time. It was really tiring but was really relief when I checked in the hotel. The room is so huge with double bed, a study table, TV and so on. How I wish my hubby were here; a perfect place for a second honeymoon...

The weather is fine, just like in Nottingham. I'm planning on a sightseeing of Montreal this morning. I wanted to go to downtown yesterday but have no idea on how to get there. There is a train service named Metro, but I have no idea on how to get the ticket and how much does it cost as the info was written in French! Montreal is the second largest french speaking town. I really feel like I'm in France seeing the word like sortie, bienvenue, bientot etc...

I had a few stroll nearby the area yesterday but I must admit that I'm quite scared as there are people like drug addicts hanging around and asking for money! In the end, I got back to the hotel and did what I have to do - study...

One thing I dread about if of course food...Luckily I brought instant noodles, biscuits and chocolates! You could imagine how slim I would be when I get back home...

What a relief...

The mock presentation was ok, slides are ok, pace and timing are also ok, and basically it's ready to be presented at the conference. I'd just do a few more runs infront of the mirror by myself prior to the actual one. I'll just pray that I'd get a humble crowd and will not post difficult questions.

I also bumped into colleague that will drive us to the airport on Saturday. Probably we'll leave at around 10.30 am so that we'll have ample time before the departure. That reminds me, I need to request for halal food from British Airways.

I'm very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to attend the conference. Apart from presenting the paper, I really hope that I could gain a lot of things from the conference itself. Whatever information that I have at this moment are like pieces of puzzles. I really hope that I can put some of the pieces together and start writing my thesis. I also hope that I'd meet other people of the same interest and start comparing notes towards solving my research problem...

Olympics fever...!

I have supervisory meeting tomorrow whereby I'd have to do a mock presentation for PATAT08 conference. Powerpoints slides are ready, but still, I need to rehearse it infront of the mirror for quite some times. But the Olympics fever is on and I found myself hard to concentrate! Adding up to it, this morning Rebecca Adlington from Mansfield won the gold medal in women's 400m freestyle. It's a glory day for people in Nottingham, and of course I'm also excited about it as swimming is my favourite pastime. Back home I used to do it as the university has a good indoor swimming pool and before going home after work, I'd certainly dive in when I have free time.

Back to Rebecca, she deserves the gold as the preparation for it was so intense. She practised 30 hours per week and even swam since early in the morning at 5 am when lots of people are in the comfort of their own beds.

The moral of the story, when we really work hard, the success is in our hands. I wish I had her courage and gain the gold medal; not in the olympics but my PhD of course...

08-08-08 Olympics Opening - Spectacular !

It's the opening event of the Olympics today, this very 'Ong' day 08-08-08! I've been watching it live, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/ . The internet connection is superb here in the office and TV streaming is a noooo problem.

Since I'm researching on Sports Scheduling, there is no reason why I shouldn't watch this spectacular event. It was really a grand presentation and I've never seen such event before! Bravo China... 15,000 participated in the presentation and they have prepared for it since last year. No wonder the coodination was so perfect. I bet people here in the UK might be cracking their heads really bad to think of the presentation for 2012 Olympics that will be held in London.

At the point of writing, the atheletes are marching in. Malaysian contingent is one of them! My kids spotted someone in blonde! I wonder who she is...

Come to think of it, it's good for me to watch this event as there are many countries that I've never heard of like Kiribati. Ever heard of it?

Algorithm & Pseudocode - are they the same?

I always thought that the word 'algorithm' is the same as 'pseudocode'. Having attended Tim's class yesterday, I noticed the difference. Well actually the course is on JAVA; at the last two sessions of the course, he wanted to instill in our mind the software design is very important - never start coding before you really plan what you are going to do.

Design should be done with pencil and paper. At the initial state, we need to really define the problem or whatever we want to solve. Test it and clarify it with other people; in our case, it would be our supervisor. Once clarified, we can create the algorithm which is the solution to the problem. Since there are many algorithms that are published before, try looking at one to see if it suits our needs. There is no point in reinventing the wheel, isn't it :-)

After successive refinement, pseudocode comes into picture. It is actually the detailed description of a programming in a plain english. If we want to code it in Object Oriented (OO), we should design it as such. When the pseudocode is complete, test it by desk tracing with pen or pencil, following loops and so on. Once satisfied, the pseudocode can be transfered into any programming language that we like and we just have to deal with coding errors. It saves the trouble of rectifying thousands of errors!

RM900 allowance per month - hardly enough to pay for utility bills!

From this month on, I'd be getting my allowance in RM. As the title reads, RM900 per month staying in the UK; hardly enough to pay for my utility bills, let alone the monthly rental of £300+ per month. With the recent increase of oil price, the utilities have increased by 20%. Where would I be getting the ££ to pay for all these...

I have sent out an appeal letter to convert for fulltime but then again, it has to go through so many levels before it reaches the final destination. Off record information, the qouta for 2008 has already been used up, implying that I need not appeal for conversion. Come to think of it, MNDP/split program fees are 87% from the total payment for fulltime student. They just need to add in 13% more for me to stay on fulltime.

Well, let's see how it goes. After all, the success of a PhD is not solely on the studies but how well one manages his or her study, family and whatever related to the PhD processes.

Love what you are doing...

Yesterday I went to my kids' school as they are celebrating the head teacher's retirement. Guess what, the guy has worked there for 26 years! He has been the head teacher for 11 years. What's his formula for staying there for too long? He loves what he is doing, he loves kids, and he enjoys working with his staff.

Moral of the story, we must enjoy what we are doing. I enjoy reading, I enjoy programming, I enjoy writing, I'm enjoying my PhD...:-)

What's the difference between metaheuristics and hyperheuristics?

A friend who just joined was asking about the difference between heuristics, metaheuristics and hyperheuristics. I have posted the meaning of heuristics before and would now like to compare it against meta and hyperheuristics. Metaheuristics is a collection of heuristics including simulated annealing, tabu search, genetic algorithm, ant colony, swarm and so on. Metaheuristics explore a search spaces of solution to a given problem.

As meta means beyond, and expected to be better than heuristics itself, hyperheuristics is supposed to be better than metaheuristics. Hyperheuristics means heuristics that choose heuristics. The main difference between metaheuristics and hyperheuristics is that hyperheuristics operates on the search space of heuristics. Think of a hyperactive kids; hyperactive kids tend to be more rowdy, excited and energetic. I'll think of a better analogy to describe the hyperheuristics and will post it here once I got one.

Problem formulation

I'm doing a problem-solving research which is dealing with a real world situation. In dealing with a real world situation, initially the process is the collection of problems or so-called mess. The problem is then analysed. We then need to come out with the mathematical representation (model) of the perceived problem. And in the end, we need to find the solution to the model. Once solution is found, we need to verify it with the users, see whether they agree with our solution.

The hardest part is the formulation of the problem. This is the step where I'm currently at now. Typical of OR problem, we need to maximise or minimise, subject to the constraints. Saying it is easy, but to do it -- it is a hell of a job! Come to think of it, we need to recall what has been done 20 or 30 years back whereby subjects like Calculus, linear algebra came into mind...

There is a saying by Krishnamurti (The Penguin Krishnamurti Reader) as such :

"If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem"

In my case now, I do understand the problem, but the step towards getting the answer is the challenging part...

Time flies....

Almost one year already since the last update...Don't know where to start. As for study, how if I just cut and paste the report progress to the International Office, written by my supervisor recently...

Yati has made excellent progress. We have decided on a subject of study(/Scheduling of Malaysian Football/ in order to increase the interest inindividual fixtures).Yati visited the Malaysian Football League in order to collect detailsabout the problem, as well as some data. This followed an initial meeting I had with them the last time I visited Malaysia.The current focus of her PhD study is to develop a model that captures match importance that we will optimise over. Yati is also considering which search methodologies she will utilise. The modelling/solution methodology is a critical part of the research and will have a large effect on the rest of her studies. An abstract has been accepted at an international conference which describes the initial work in this research. We will develop this paper into a journal paper for a special issue of a journal associated with the conference. Of course, the literature review will continue and Yati will write thisup over the coming months and this will be followed by the mid-term review.