PROMOTING AND SUSTAINING LOCAL TOURISM INDUSTRY IN CAMANAVA AREA BY BUILDING DISASTER RESILIENT COMMUNITIES

This paper aims to present the potential growth of local tourism industry in the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela (CAMANAVA) despite the perennial problem of flooding and alarming rate of land subsidence in the area. The University of the East (UE), a private higher education institution in partnership with the local government units, non-government organizations, civil society groups, higher education institutions, and other stakeholders has initiated sustainable community development programs to reduce the vulnerability of marginalized communities by increasing their capacities

"I want to see a drowning-free Philippines": a qualitative study of the current situation, key challenges and future recommendations for drowning prevention in the Philippines

Drowning is described as a public health challenge by the World Health Organization. This challenge faces the Philippines where drowning claims an average of 3276 lives annually (3.50/100,000 population). However, no research comprehensively documents prevention strategies implemented by government and non-government agencies at a national or local level in the Philippines. This study aimed to qualitatively explore the current situation and key challenges of preventing drowning in the Philippines through key informant interviews and make recommendations to guide prevention efforts. Interviews were conducted among government and non-government agencies involved in drowning prevention using purposive sampling. Qualitative data collected were thematically analyzed. Findings indicate government and non-government agencies implement drowning prevention programs or strategies based on the mandate of their institutions. Most commonly cited were activities related to education or information awareness, emergency and disaster preparedness, and swimming skills. It was revealed that each agency was relatively unaware of the drowning prevention programs of other agencies. A multisector approach is needed to develop coordinated and comprehensive programs and activities aimed at preventing drowning. In this way, duplication will be avoided and the minimal resources available will be used effectively to reduce the burden of drowning in the Philippines

Development of Guiding Cane with Voice Notification for Visually Impaired individuals

Navigation in the physical environment is a challenge for those people who have very limited sense of sight or no vision at all. Assistive technologies for blind mobilization is not new and always have a room for improvement. Moreover, these assistive devices are limited in terms of its sensing and feedback abilities. This paper presents a microcontroller-based guiding stick capable of detecting several conditions of the environment such as obstacles in front, left and right positions of the user and detects ascending and descending staircases. The feedback is delivered by an audio output which dictates the direction to go or what condition the sensor detects in front of the user. Technical evaluation proves that the device was functional in terms of its accuracy, responsiveness and correctness. On the other hand, in the actual evaluation of the device with the visually impaired individuals, the device did not perform efficiently. It was also found that the device has the potential to be used effectively by the visually impaired who acquired their blindness in later stage of their life provided that they will have a proper training in using the device while navigating in the physical environment

Development of a Quadrotor with Vision-based Target Detection for Autonomous Landing

In the field of robotics, the quadrotors have rapidly gained interest and have made several breakthroughs involving it, which range from variable pitch to application of swarm robotics. With that said, this paper aims to also expand upon one of the current developments which is the automated landing of quadrotors on a designated landing zone. Without GPS, the prototype built in this research employs image processing techniques to detect the landing zone, as well as to determine the flight altitude. Using these information, the quadrotor is autonomously controlled via its control surfaces (throttle, roll and pitch) in order to perform the landing procedure. Additionally, the quadrotor is capable of tracking a moving target and safely land even with winds reaching up to 2.2m/s

The preparation of graphic models for a virtual reality application in Unity

Although Virtual Reality has existed for decades, it is currently experiencing a boom. This is mainly due to the new powerful hardware devices available to many people. Accompanying this greater availability, the fields of use are also currently expanding – medicine, military, business, engineering, education, entertainment, etc. The main purpose of Virtual Reality is to provide the user with a real-looking simulated environment, including interaction. Specialised developer software tools are used in order to create Virtual Reality applications that exploit suitable 3D graphics models. This paper deals with the creation and preparation of such graphical models - including textures, and the problems of the conversion process, to a developer application. Blender is used to create models and UV maps. The export of these models and UV maps from Blender is set up for easy implementation in the Substance Painter software, where the textures are drawn - and later, into the Unity developer engine for Virtual Reality application. © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Preventing child drowning in the Philippines: the need to address the determinants of health

Drowning is a public health issue in the Philippines, with children at significantly increased risk. Determinants of health (DoH) such as education, socio-economic status, ethnicity, and urbanization are factors that impact drowning risk. As drowning is a multisectoral issue, a national drowning prevention plan can drive collaboration with relevant stakeholders. This study reports trends in unintentional child (0–14 years) drowning in the Philippines (incidence, rates, and trends over time for fatal and non-fatal (years lived with a disability (YLDs) and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) from 2008–2017 and conducts an analysis of the Philippines’ Multisector Action Plan (MSAP) on Drowning Prevention. From 2008–2017, 27,928 (95%UI [Uncertainty Interval]: 22,794–33,828) children aged 0–14 years died from drowning (52.7% aged 5–14 years old). Rates of drowning have declined among both age groups, with greater reductions seen among 0–4 year olds (y = −0.3368x + 13.035; R2 = 0.9588). The MSAP has 12 child drowning-specific activities and 20 activities were identified where DoH will need to be considered during development and implementation. The MSAP activities, and work done to prevent drowning more generally, must consider DoH such as education, urbanization, water and sanitation health, and safe water transportation. A national drowning surveillance system and investment in research in the Philippines are recommended

Enabling Solar Fuels Technology With High Throughput Experimentation

The High Throughput Experimentation (HTE) project of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP, http://solarfuelshub.org/) performs accelerated discovery of new earth-abundant photoabsorbers and electrocatalysts. Through collaboration within the DOE solar fuels hub and with the broader research community, the new materials will be utilized in devices that efficiently convert solar energy, water and carbon dioxide into transportation fuels. JCAP-HTE builds high-throughput pipelines for the synthesis, screening and characterization of photoelectrochemical materials. In addition to a summary of these pipelines, we will describe several new screening instruments for high throughput (photo-)electrochemical measurements. These instruments are not only optimized for screening against solar fuels requirements, but also provide new tools for the broader combinatorial materials science community. We will also describe the high throughput discovery, follow-on verification, and device implementation of a new quaternary metal oxide catalyst. This rapid technology development from discovery to device implementation is a hallmark of the multi-faceted JCAP research effort