CLIENTS’ SATISFACTION ON THE FRONTLINE SERVICES OF A GOVERNMENT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION

The study assessed the clients’ level of satisfaction on the different frontline services provided by government run higher education institution (HEI) external campus in the municipality of Alangalang, Leyte, Philippines. This study is anchored on the Philippine Republic Act Number 9485 which advocates the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 (ARTA) requiring all government institutions to provide programs and services supportive to strengthening customer satisfaction and enhanced services delivery, educate and equip employees assigned in the frontline service to become more responsive and efficient to clients’ needs. It employed a descriptive survey research design utilizing both the quantitative and qualitative approaches with a self-structured survey instrument. The study adopted the core areas of the Report Card Survey (RCS) of the ARTA; timeliness, knowledge, competence, courtesy, fairness and ethical treatment, service quality, physical setup/layout and basic facilities. Majority of the student respondents belonged to the young adult group represented with ages ranging from 18-21 years, while the faculty and staff, alumni and supplier respondents were young adult (18-35 years old) and were mostly females. Findings revealed that, in general, the students, faculty and staff and alumni were very satisfied with the services provided for by the HEI under study. The area on competence got the highest satisfaction rating while the area on basic facilities got the lowest satisfaction. In conclusion, the government HEI managed to deliver good quality services but with gaps and not enough to earn high satisfaction among its clientele. It is recommended that the management should consider the problems observed and should take necessary mechanisms to improve the satisfaction to its clientele.  Article visualizations

Reviving the Philippine Economy under a Responsible New Normal

After the reclassification of areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to general community quarantine (GCQ), the urgent task for the Philippine government is to provide an exit plan to revive the Philippine economy. Given the significant economic damage resulting from the shutdown of roughly 75 percent of the country’s total production in the National Capital Region (NCR) and in the CALABARZON and Central Luzon areas, a gradual reopening of the economy will be necessary to prevent further economic damage that could not only be difficult to repair, but also long to overcome. Indeed, based on recent directives from the government, a substantial number of industries and services have thus been allowed to operate in both the ECQ and GCQ areas. However, as the Philippine government begins to calibrate the opening of sectors, there remain concerns as to how this process will affect jobs and livelihoods now and beyond. In this context, an economic recovery plan that talks about short-term, a transition, and full recovery phases— encompassing a revision of the current Philippine Development Plan without losing sight of the long-term goals envisioned in Ambisyon Natin 2040— is still needed. Indeed, a key component of AmBisyon 2040 has been of building resiliency over the long-term, which includes resiliency in health and economic shocks apart from natural disasters. At the same time, this recovery plan should also be accompanied by structural reforms to enhance its implementation. The Department of Finance has crafted a four-pillar socio-economic strategy aimed at: (a) supporting the more vulnerable sectors of society; (b) increasing medical resources to contain the virus and offer safety to front-liners; (c) keeping the economy afloat through financial emergency initiatives; and (d) creating jobs and sustaining the economy. Yet while enumerating the costs of these plans, the said strategy lacked details on how the country could achieve some of the goals without the availability of widespread testing and adequate health facilities. Loan guarantees, cash transfers, and other forms of subsidies can revive disrupted supply chains but cannot restore productivity in the middle of a persisting health crisis, while the uncertainty of a possible outbreak can keep workers from supplying goods and services. It is crucial to have these programs and institutions in place since a number of cities, regions and provinces have started to reopen. A modified community quarantine without the necessary health system investments, protection measures, and economic recovery plan risks amounting to an unregulated herd immunity strategy. Opting for herd immunity allows governments to blame the failure of the health and economic system on the virus, rather than on bad governance. Under current GCQ protocols, the burden on containing the virus is mostly transferred to the public. Unless the government provides mass testing, the problem of information is aggravated, probably raising the transmission risks. Moreover, unregulated herd immunity will be differentially felt by the poor. As healthy workers may recover their earnings from the modified quarantine, the poor, who have limited access to the health services and are thus more susceptible to the virus, are unlikely to benefit from this system. In effect, this will only exacerbate the inequality that prevails in the country. Moving towards a responsible new normal requires a strategy that addresses both people’s wellbeing and the socio-economic weaknesses exposed by COVID-19. Thus, the strategy should have the following elements

Developmental time table of the sea urchin Diadema setosum found in Talin Bay Matuod, Lian, Batangas

Under controlled laboratory conditions of water temperature (25-26 centigrade) and salinity (30-34 ppt), the developmental time table of the sea urchin, Diadema setosum was established. Gametes were obtained via the chemical induction techniques by Kobayashi (1971). The sperm and eggs were mixed and allowed to develop in culture beakers containing filtered aerated sea water. The developing embryos were observed microscopically (2150X) at different time points within the 48-hour culture period.The study showed that fertilization was attained 3-4 minutes after the sperms were added to the eggs. The 2-cell stage was observed 60-70 minutes, blastula stage recorded after 300 minutes and mid-gastrula 600 minutes after the sperms were added to the eggs. The 4-armed pluteal larvae stage was the highest developmental stage attained within 1860-1920 minutes

Intraspecific diversity in the mechanisms underlying abamectin resistance in a cosmopolitan pest

Pesticide resistance relies on a myriad of mechanisms, ranging from single mutations to a complex and polygenic architecture, and it involves mechanisms such as target-site insensitivity, metabolic detoxification, or a combination of these, with either additive or synergistic effects. Several resistance mechanisms against abamectin, a macrocyclic lactone widely used in crop protection, have been reported in the cosmopolitan pest Tetranychus urticae. However, it has been shown that a single mechanism cannot account for the high levels of abamectin resistance found across different mite populations. Here, we used experimental evolution combined with bulked segregant analyses to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with abamectin resistance in two genetically unrelated populations of T. urticae. In these two independent QTL mapping experiments, three and four QTLs were identified, of which three were shared between experiments. Shared QTLs contained genes encoding subunits of the glutamate-gated chloride channel (GluCl) and harboured previously reported mutations, including G314D in GluCl1 and G326E in GluCl3, but also novel resistance candidate loci, including DNA helicases and chemosensory receptors. Surprisingly, the fourth QTL, present only in only one of the experiments and thus unique for one resistant parental line, revealed a non-functional variant of GluCl2, suggesting gene knock-out as resistance mechanism. Our study uncovers the complex basis of abamectin resistance, and it highlights the intraspecific diversity of genetic mechanisms underlying resistance in a cosmopolitan pest

Molecular-based detection of pathogenic Listeria sp. in Philippine raw carabao\u27s milk and white cheese

This study was conducted to detect the presence of pathogenic Listeria species in locally produced white cheese (quesong puti) and raw carabao’s milk samples from Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Rizal, Lucena City, and Makati City, Philippines using phenotypic and molecular analyses. Out of 208 initial isolates obtained from 31 dairy product samples, 118 isolates were preliminarily considered presumptive Listeria species based on established culture-based detection methods. Further phenotypic tests and growth efficiency assessment using highly selective Polymyxin Acriflavine Lithium chloride Ceftazidime Aesculin Mannitol (PALCAM) agar narrowed them down to only five putative isolates. However, the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) analysis using the primer pairs Lis and LL1/LL4 for the listeriolysin O gene and iap for the invasion-associated protein gene yielded negative results for the potentially pathogenic Listeria spp., except for the ARKPC49 isolate. The isolate, which was identified as Providencia sp. through 16s ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence analysis, was found to have variant PCR amplicons. Cluster analysis also confirmed its unrelatedness to Listeria spp. Four other isolates (e.g., LKPC48, LC3C37, LC2C29, and LC2C42) which exhibited gray-green colonies with a black halo on PALCAM Agar were identified as Corynebacterium vitarumen. Thus, the results confirmed the absence of pathogenic Listeria spp. and highlighted the need for molecular methods to supplement cultural methods in detecting pathogenic Listeria spp. from dairy products

A nuclear receptor HR96-related gene underlies large trans-driven differences in detoxification gene expression in a generalist herbivore

Abstract The role, magnitude, and molecular nature of trans-driven expression variation underlying the upregulation of detoxification genes in pesticide resistant arthropod populations has remained enigmatic. In this study, we performed expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) mapping (n = 458) between a pesticide resistant and a susceptible strain of the generalist herbivore and crop pest Tetranychus urticae. We found that a single trans eQTL hotspot controlled large differences in the expression of a subset of genes in different detoxification gene families, as well as other genes associated with host plant use. As established by additional genetic approaches including RNAi gene knockdown, a duplicated gene with a nuclear hormone receptor HR96-related ligand-binding domain was identified as causal for the expression differences between strains. The presence of a large family of HR96-related genes in T. urticae may enable modular control of detoxification and host plant use genes, facilitating this species’ known and rapid evolution to diverse pesticides and host plants

QTL mapping suggests that both cytochrome P450-mediated detoxification and target-site resistance are involved in fenbutatin oxide resistance in Tetranychus urticae

The organotin acaricide fenbutatin oxide (FBO) an inhibitor of mitochondrial ATP-synthase has been one of the most extensively used acaricides for the control of spider mites, and is still in use today. Resistance against FBO has evolved in many regions around the world but only few studies have investigated the molecular and genetic mechanisms of resistance to organotin acaricides. Here, we found that FBO resistance is polygenic in two genetically distant, highly resistant strains of the spider mite Tetranychus urticae, MAR-AB and MR-VL. To identify the loci underlying FBO resistance, two independent bulked segregant analysis (BSA) based QTL mapping experiments, BSA MAR-AB and BSA MR-VL, were performed. Two QTLs on chromosome 1 were associated with FBO resistance in each mapping experiment. At the second QTL of BSA MAR-AB, several cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (CYP) genes were located, including CYP392E4, CYP392E6 and CYP392E11, the latter being overexpressed in MAR-AB. Synergism tests further implied a role for CYPs in FBO resistance. Subunit c of mitochondrial ATP-synthase was located near the first QTL of both mapping experiments and harbored a unique V89A mutation enriched in the resistant parents and selected BSA populations. Marker-assisted introgression into a susceptible strain demonstrated a moderate but significant effect of the V89A mutation on toxicity of organotin acaricides. The impact of the mutation on organotin inhibition of ATP synthase was also functionally confirmed by ATPase assays on mitochondrial preparations. To conclude, our findings suggest that FBO resistance in the spider mite T. urticae is a complex interplay between CYP-mediated detoxification and target-site resistance

Incomplete reproductive barriers and genomic differentiation impact the spread of resistance mutations between green- and red-colour morphs of a cosmopolitan mite pest

Pesticide resistance represents a clear and trackable case of adaptive evolution with a strong societal impact. Understanding the factors associated with the evolution and spread of resistance is imperative to develop sustainable crop management strategies. The two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae, a major crop pest with worldwide distribution and a polyphagous lifestyle, has evolved resistance to most classes of pesticides. Tetranychus urticae exists as either a green- or a red-coloured morph. However, the extent of genetic divergence and reproductive compatibility vary across populations of these colour morphs, complicating their taxonomic resolution at the species level. Here, we studied patterns of genetic differentiation and barriers to gene flow within and between morphs of T. urticae in order to understand the factors that influence the spread of resistance mutations across its populations. We derived multiple iso-female lines from Tetranychus populations collected from agricultural crops. We generated genomic and morphological data, characterized their bacterial communities and performed controlled crosses. Despite morphological similarities, we found large genomic differentiation between the morphs. This pattern was reflected in the incomplete, but strong postzygotic incompatibility in crosses between colour morphs, while crosses within morphs from different geographical locations were largely compatible. In addition, our results suggest recent/on-going gene flow between green-coloured T. urticae and T. turkestani. By screening the sequences of 10 resistance genes, we found evidence for multiple independent origins and for single evolutionary origins of target-site resistance mutations. Our results indicate that target-site mutations mostly evolve independently in populations on different geographical locations, and that these mutations can spread due to incomplete barriers to gene flow within and between populations