Global problems, local answer

The task: Design technological solutions that can be applied to real-world
issues.

From left are Jun Liang, Chien Hui and Kian Long.

From left are Loo, Phiong, Ooi and Liew.

Three undergraduate teams rose up to the challenge brilliantly and won this year’s national-level Imagine Cup Competition, organised by Microsoft.
Rozana Sani writes.
Say goodbye to food supply shortage From left are Jun Liang, Chien Hui and Kian Long.
Champion: Team Capricorn comprising Marilyn Lim Chien Hui, Steven Lim Jun Liang and Lim Kian Long, Universiti Sains Malaysia Winning entry: GreenEve2Peace, a software solution designed to help farmers consider multiple elements affecting crop production, with the end goal of increasing crop yields n Conquering worldwide famine was what Team Capricorn had in mind when they designed GreenEve2Peace, and it proved to be a winner. The software solution not only can systematically address the issue of food supply shortage, but also improve rice productivity yields and eliminate any damage on Earth resources, for example, overuse of chemicals such as pesticides.
Aimed at the agriculture sector, GreenEve2Peace provides accurate and up-todate weather predictions, channels information related to farming activities, acts as an early warning and alert system for crops viruses and diseases, and even offers advice on the timing and amount of pesticides, fertilisers and chemicals to help reduce damage to the environment.
Weather prediction is done by crunching all data elements based on Historical Actual Weather Event, Historical Predicted Weather Event and Historical Recommended Farming Schedule by the Muda Agricultural Development Authority (MADA) or the relevant bodies.
“We deployed a Backpropagation Neural Network Algorithm to establish a pattern and a weighted index to relate the weather events. With the weighted index, we applied it to the future predicted event to advise the farmer on activities such as seeding, fertilising and cultivating,” said team leader Lim Kian Long.
In terms of communication, GreenEve2Peace uses all mechanisms available today such as the Internet, text messaging and community network to relay information related to farming activities.
Technology used includes Windows Presentation Foundation, SQL Server 2008, Silverlight and Neural Network.
“To reduce damages of padi culture due to inappropriate water level and toxicity, we hope to enhance our system with water management solutions such as a water-level monitoring system and watertoxicity diagnostic system. We hope to get a grant from MDeC (Multimedia Development Corporation) to commercialise this system in six months. We will work closely with MADA to implement the system stage by stage,” Kian Long said.
“We will also extend our solution to include other agriculture sectors such as livestock (chicken, duck and pig) and fishery, and to our neighbouring countries once we have successfully implemented the system nationwide.” A company from India has expressed interest in GreenEve2Peace.
Team Capricorn will represent Malaysia at the worldwide finals in Cairo, Egypt, from July 3 to 7.
Disease prevention first First runner-up: Team Cosmic comprising Jasy Liew Suet Yan, Loo Wan Koe, Ooi Keng Siang and Matthew Phiong Yoon Kheong, Universiti Sains Malaysia Winning entry: Virtual Health Connect, a software solution that acts as a one-stop centre to electronically store patients’ health information n Team Cosmic’s passion is to help improve the well-being of society through disease prevention initiatives, and it shows in their product.
Virtual Health Connect (VHC) aims to reduce child mortality rates and fight diseases such as malaria, dengue and AIDS by becoming a one-stop centre to electronically store patients’ health information, especially immunisation records. It enables realtime discoveries and monitoring of infectious diseases, presenting health information in a simple, interactive manner.
VHC covers three main areas: immunisation monitoring, disease reporting and response management, as well as interactive health education.
“Using a multi-tier system architecture, all the three main modules run in a server, and users can easily access VHC using a Web browser.
“VHC also interacts with patients through SMS to send immunisation reminders to parents and precautionary messages to the public during an outbreak,” said team spokesperson Jasy Liew Suet Yan.
Technology used includes Windows Live, Silverlight, Virtual Earth, Windows Communication Foundation, ASP.Net, .Net 3.5 Framework and SQL Server.
Team Cosmic is looking for partners to take VHC to the next level, including IP protection and commercialisation.
“We will continue to explore breakthrough technologies in hopes of using the wonders of technology to make a difference in people’s lives. Even VHC is scalable, and we still have many ideas that can be materialised since healthcare is such a huge domain,” Liew said.
From left are Loo, Phiong, Ooi and Liew.
Second runner-up: Team J-TourCare comprising Ng Pek Shi, Pang Yee Yong, Gilbert Puah Leong Siang and Wong Sun Shah, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Winning entry: Johor Tourism Caring System, an interactive Web-based knowledge management portal for sustainable tourism n Team J-TourCare saw the online platform as not only able to promote eco-tourism in Johor, but also as generate income for the rural community. Their Webbased knowledge management portal, Johor Tourism Caring System, or J-TourCare, allows stakeholders to interact, educate and promote sustainable tourism to the public while offering homestay packages, eco-tourism programmes, community service projects and even the managing of the Johor Tourism Award.
“Through J-TourCare, homestay and eco-tourism will be able to bring substantial income to underprivileged rural folks, single parents and women entrepreneurs operating the programmes in Johor,” said team leader Ng Pek Shi.
For example, the homestay programmes can afford employment opportunities for the community in general, generate income for idle assets, and encourage the community to develop products and become community-based entrepreneurs.
“J-TourCare also offers a venue for volunteers from all over the world to take part in community service programmes at the homestay and eco-tourism sites, besides being an avenue for sponsors to pledge monetary support. This global partnership will enrich the lives of the participants through their direct involvement in the conservation efforts,” Ng pointed out.
To spur players in the Johor tourism value chain, J-TourCare provides an efficient ranking system to help them select high performers within the tourism industry. The high performers are voted by the public through various methods, including SMS.
“Proceeds from the public voting system will go towards assisting tourism operators for further improvements and preserving the culture and biodiversity of the eco-tourism sites identified by the public,” Ng said.
Technology used in J-TourCare include ASP.Net 3.5, C#.Net, Javascript, AJAX, CSS, HTML, VBscript, Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2005 and ActiveXpert.
The Johor Tourism Action Council has expressed interest to use J-TourCare to promote its homestay and eco-tourism programmes.
“We imagine that in time J-TouCare will be expanded to cover Malaysia and the rest of the world and become a successful hub for caring and sustainable tourism,” Ng said.