ComE 522 - IERC 2010

Post your reactions here on the January 14, 2010 International Engineering Research Conference.

To qualify for the 3 seminar credit, please post your reaction for at least 3 sessions that you attended.

SRP Transportation Planning

This is a study carried out by Engr. Lynn Gloria A. Madrona, an Assistant Professor of the Civil Engineering Department of San Jose Recoletos. It revolves around the 302 hectare parcel of land named the South Road Properties (SRP) which is situated in the southern part of Cebu and is owned by the Cebu City Government. For about 10 years now, the SRP is still waiting for development to commence in terms of commercial and industrial in order to provide more job opportunities to Cebuanos so as economic stability that it could grant to the city.

With all these planned areas of development, a transportation planning has to be conducted in order for people to have easier and comfortable access to the place. The bus rapid transit (BRT) has been extensively considered in the study. It is believed to be the answer to traffic congestion and pollution that the city is experiencing at present. BRT system has been widely used by other countries and is proven to be really effective in regulating traffic problems. As for our own version of BRT in srp, there were different routes presented that are available for use. The estimated amount for the fare is fairly affordable. BRT is said to be a system, therefore it does not only offer buses for transportation but pedestrian walkways as well to encourage people to just walk instead of using their cars. Bicycle lanes as well will be made available for the purpose of introducing non-motorized mode of transportation.

The said proposal truly is a great way to advance our economy and boost up our way of living. But in the light of preserving our nature, the project could jeopardize our fast diminishing resources. However with proper and thorough study and balance of things, the pros and cons of this project can go hand in hand for the betterment of our society.

Flowchart Translator and Code Generator with GUI-IDE: "A visual programming tool for IT/Eng'g Educators Teaching Programming Logic and Design using Flowcharts"


This topic is presented by Mr. Anthony G. Undang from Cebu Institute of Technology, College of Computer Studies. This study happens to be his thesis to complete his masters’ degree on the same University. The study introduces a flowchart translator and code generator (FTCG) incorporated with a graphical user interface development environment. FTCG is a visual programming tool which allows creation of program Flowchart and its execution. The system is capable of converting the Flowchart into a real executable code using a particular programming language. During the presentation, the by-product of the translation was expressed in C programming language.

FTCG is purposely developed for both the students and instructors to make use of. With this tool, students will only have to analyze the problem, generate the corresponding flowchart, test its behaviour and finally generate the running code. Clearly, this system wants students to devout more time on analysis, problem solving process and less worry on the program code and syntax.

Instructors as well can utilize the system in teaching fundamental concepts in programming. They can now do away with the hassle of manually illustrating a flowchart and tracing its behaviour. And in this way, instructors can best present mapping between flowchart symbols.

As a programmer, one crucial skill that must be acquired is the problem solving skills or the ability to formulate effective algorithms to provide solution to a given scenario. Programming myopia is strongly discouraged among programmers; we are encouraged to be language independent as much as possible. All these things are covered by the said system, however, there is still a downside, which is if the students will abuse and misuse the tool leading to dependencies and laziness in coding programs by themselves. Nevertheless, I am optimistic, that with proper discipline and utilization, the FTCG can be of great benefit to us.

Model for an Efficient Conduct of Indoor Air Quality Assessment


The speaker for this topic unfortunately did not make it on the conference due to some inevitable shortcomings. But the moderator of the session on the other hand, made a presentation which also relates to indoor air quality assessment. The study focused on a public school somewhere in Cebu City. The classrooms are not very spacious, and considering the number of students per classroom, the air circulation within the classrooms is not that good. The mere composition and structure of the classroom itself doesn’t cater into good indoor air quality and the situation was even aggravated when a certain building construction was built right behind the school building. The wall of the said construction went all the way to the school’s roof thus covering the entire window of every classrooms and further impeding air to pass through and circulate within the vicinity.

According to this study, poor indoor air quality in schools can have adverse health effects for students and staff. Exposure to poor Indoor Air Quality can result in illness, including nausea, eye and skin irritation, headaches, vomiting, and can trigger asthma attacks. Poor indoor air quality can also hinder students and teachers from performing well, specifically on tasks requiring concentration and memory. Some of the symptoms mentioned earlier were observed to some students utilizing the classrooms.

Since there’s no way to stop the ongoing construction, the study made few recommendations to the school so as to regulate and improve indoor air quality in classrooms. One is to secure more electric fan every classroom so as to increase classroom ventilation. Another is to provide decorative divider on the walls of the constructed building so it would be possible for air to pass through the walls and to the classrooms.

Inevitably, the environment is a one factor that contributes to the state or wellness of an individual. It is essential to keep our environment as amiable as possible so that a person can perform his best at anything and everything.

#1

Rodrigo C. Talingting Jr.

Model for an Efficient Conduct of Indoor Air Quality Assessment

A study made by Dr. Eppie Estanislao-Clark of De La Salle University. The study aims to find
a faster way of taking indoor environmental quality without sacrificing the reliability of the
results.

The researcher used a primary school as the basis of his study. He conducted the experiments
through gathering of information, using of surveys and extended monitoring of the different
facilities inside the school.

The researcher was not able to make it to the conference the reason of which is unknown
to me. For his absence, one of the coordinator subsituted for him instead.

Poor air quality can have a very negative effect to people especially to those childrens in
school. Also, poor air quality affects the condition of the children while they are studying.
It makes them uncomfortable due to the room having a very hot and humid atmosphere.

#2

Rodrigo C. Talingting Jr.

SRP Transportation Planning

For me the SRP Transportation Planning study presented last January 14 - 21 was the most interesting
one on the International Engineering Research Conference held in the CAFA Theatre of the University
of San Carlos. The reason of which was because of the involvement of the local government which is the
government of Cebu City and also it improves the transportation service of Cebu City.

The study is about the 302 hectare reclaimed land in the South Road Properties which is owned by the
Cebu City governement. The property will be develop using the best urban planing practices and trends
used by other big cities around the world.

The transportation plan that was propse was the use of the Bus Rapid Transit or BRT system in which
the bus has its own dedicated road. It makes the travel from one place to another faster and much
easier compare to the current transportation we have. Also, the BRT system is more environment
friendly compare to the current public transportation like the public utility vehicles (PUV) or jeepneys.

Vincent Han Lester S. Quirit
BS CompE DSD

IERC 2010


SRP Transportation Planning

This is a study is presented by Engr. Lynn Gloria A. Madrona, a professor of San Jose Recoletos Civil Engineering Department. It’s about developing the 302 hectare part of the South Road Properties (SRP) which is located in the southern part of Cebu, owned by the government of Cebu City.
The development of this project will provide job opportunities not only for Cebuanos but also for neighboring province. And this study might ensure economic stability of the city and for the country. With this proposed plan of developing the SRP, a plan for transportation is also to be considered. To provide easy access to the place. The BRT or the Bus Rapid Transit is the proposed plan for the transportation. Bus Rapid Transit provides solution to traffic congestion and it is widely used by other countries. So developing the SRP with BRT, it would be very effective in regulating traffic problems. In the study, the BRT is estimated to be affordable to people. BRT does only provide access to vehicles but also it has walkways and other methods to help minimize pollution in our environment.
The study of developing SRP with BRT is one of the great ways to boost our economy, not just here in Cebu but the country. Each field or aspects must be considered ensuring the safety of the people, resources and our environment.


Flowchart Translator and Code Generator with GUI-IDE


This study is presented by Mr. Anthony G. Undang from Cebu Institute of Technology, College of Computer Studies and this study is his master’s degree thesis. The study is about a flowchart translator and code generator with a graphical user interface development environment. This is a teaching tool that translates flowcharts into executable codes. These may be an effective way of teaching programming languages.
The study wants students to focus on analysis and problem solving processes and not worrying on the executable code but in my own opinion this might not help on students who are irresponsible. But nonetheless, this is up to those students to understand the flowchart and know how it is coded. And also this teaching tool may help instructors map between flowchart symbols, an effective way of teaching.
It is important for a programmer to know how to properly analyze, solve problems and to make a flowchart to have an effective plan or a clearer view of what the system is. And this study helps programmers make effective development with a less time for debugging.


Model for an Efficient Conduct of Indoor Air Quality Assessment
by: Eppie Estanislao-Clark, De La Salle University, Philippines

Unfortunately the speaker of this study did not make it on the conference so the moderator presented the study. The study is about conducting an efficient way to ensure indoor air quality. There were many factors that needed to be considered like the classrooms are not very spacious for the students, the air circulation and also air pollution affecting our environment. According to the study, having a poor indoor air quality affects students and staff. Affecting their health (like nausea, eye and skin irritation, vomiting, headaches), how they interact to other students and how they study. These may result to low performance.
There were recommendations to the school in order to improve indoor air quality by increasing their ventilation like for example, adding electric fans, building a proper ventilation that allows air to pass.
In my own opinion, the developing of this schools with proper ventilation to have an improve indoor quality depends on the government (for public schools). Because the government is required to provide education, and these involves building schools. But it’s not just building it to have a place to teach but there are things that needed to be considered because even though you have classrooms without proper ventilation it will affect students, affecting their learning. So it’s useless or pointless to have rooms but the doesn’t learn.

Jayag, Alfred Ray D.
BSCOMPE SE

Pulsed Arc Electrohydraulic Discharge (PAED) Plasma Treatment of
Polluted Lake Water

Pulse Arc Electrohydraulic Discharge uses discharge pulse arc plasma that can generate irradiation of UV, shock wave and active radical chemical reaction that can remove bacteria, pathogens, and chemical contaminant.

This is a very useful technology for restoration of polluted body of water that is sadly abundant in the Philippine environment due to commercialization, industrialization and even residential area caused significant destruction of our rivers. This advancement can be used to treat rivers and lakes in our nation such as the Pasig river.

Since it is still in the experimental and development stage. We can only hope for the deployment of such technology which is very useful for any country whose water sources are contaminated by chemicals and waste water like ours.


Wet ESP for the Collection of Submicron Particles, Mist and Air Toxics

This electrostatic precipitator is a particle collector that uses electrical charge to collect particle in the air. Due to strong electrical field generation, this process can collect more than 99% of toxic gas and acid mist.

Its applications range from metal and steel industry, chemical industry and others. This can be used to clean exhaust from factories or any industries that emits small particles in the atmosphere. Such of these specific industries is in paper making where large volumes of steam is generated, metal smelting where impurities are scrubbed of the metals and acid plants.

By the number of its applications, it is indeed a very useful new way of filtering fine particles or for control of organic and acidic mists. It is also suitable for corrosive application in gas cleaning.


Flowchart Translator and Code Generator with GUI-IDE (FTCG)

The topics that I really interest me most is the flowchart translator and code generator which is a visual tool for flowchart credibility checking and code generation based on the flowchart. The software had a good Graphical User Interface which comprises of drag and drop and is very simple in design. It can execute the flowchart like a binary file or step by step like a debugger. Although limited, it can generate a clean and formatted running code provided with a correct flow chart.

This is indeed very helpful as a teaching aid especially in flowchart making. It can be made as a checker for flowchart in activities wherein the current procedure is for the teacher to analyze each flowchart which is time consuming and prone to error. Its ability to execute a flowchart like a compiled binary program is its greatest function, since you can already had a view for the actual result of your program even in the planning stage thus you can immediately detect any errors in the designed flowchart.

Flowchart is an important yet mostly ignored by students in programming since as of the present, flowchart is just considered as a requirement for the class rather than an important process for making a program since student doesn't have a concrete proof that their flowchart is error free and may not even follow their created flowchart. With the help of this technology, a student can already know if the flowchart is functional or not, and can verify their code by comparing it to the code generated by the software.

#3

Rodrigo C. Talingting Jr.

An establishment of an infiltration monitoring system along a hillslope at the University of
San Carlos, Talamban campus, Cebu City, Philippines

A study made by Erwin Calo, a Ph.D. student of Kagoshima University. A monitoring system that investigates
infiltration behavior of a natural hill slope during a rainfall.

Their study aims to estrablish where the pore-water pressure and water content are present within the
slope.

Because of landslides and other soil type erosion this study will be very benefeticial to those
affected, that includes buildings or establishments near or on a hillslope.

They used numerous field instruments: a tipping bucket rain gauge to measure measure rainfall, a pulse
generator logger for recording the rainfall data and tensiometers for measurement of pore-water pressure.

Arnold V. Roso
BSCOMPE DSD

Flowchart Translator and Code Generator with GUI-IDE

This study is presented by Engr. Anthony Undang from Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT). This presentation is related to teachers which used as a teaching aid for students and also for students in order to make their studies easier.

The presentation was about a GUI-IDE which translates flowcharts to executable code in which makes teaching of programming languages more effective. The presented project was not really performing very well. It had some bugs or errors which cause it to not work well. But the concept and his objective in making the project was good.
As a student, I also had a hard time understanding or making flowcharts and experience some difficulties in implementing or converting it to codes. With this tool, this can help make my work much easier. Using such is really a great help but it depends only on how we use it just because most of the students nowadays are looking for tools just only to make their homework or assignments without learning or understanding on what they do.


SRP Transportation Planning

This is a study is presented by Engr. Lynn Gloria A. Madrona, a professor of San Jose Recoletos Civil Engineering Department which talks about developing the 302 hectare part of the South Road Properties (SRP) which is located in the southern part of Cebu and this study will help improve the transportation service of Cebu City.

South Road Properties is owned by the Cebu City government which will be develop using the best urban planing practices and trends used by other big cities around the world. The transportation plan that was proposed was the use of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in which the bus travels from one place to another faster and much easier compare to the current transportation we have and also to provide easy access to the place. The development of this project will provide job opportunities not only for Cebuanos but also for neighboring province and this study might ensure economic stability of the city and for the country.


Pulsed Arc Electrohydraulic Discharge (PAED) Plasma Treatment of Polluted Lake Water

Pulsed Arc Electrohydraulic Discharge (PAED) Plasma Treatment is used for the restoration of polluted body of water. Polluted water at which is abundant in our country and the environment especially the rivers and seas. People and other industries cause the pollution in which developing such will be a great help. This advancement can be used to treat rivers and lakes in our country. It uses discharge pulse arc plasma that can generate irradiation of UV, shock wave and active radical chemical reaction that can remove bacteria, pathogens, and chemical contaminant. Since it is still in the experimental and development stage, we can only hope for the deployment of such technology which is very useful for any country whose water sources are contaminated by chemicals and waste water like ours.

Return Period of Tropical Cyclone Phenomena as Design Criteria for Structures in the Philippines:

This is a study by Engr. Eduardo Walag that deals with structures. Engr. Walag is from University of San Carlos’ Water Resources Center. Although it is aimed at Civil Engineering students and professionals, I’ve taken interest in this talk since it will still affect us indirectly. According to his study building codes are patterned according to the cycle of typhoons or cyclones that ravage the country over a known period as well as the usual paths these calamities may take. According to him, the building code on the affected areas should be revised because cyclone patterns have changed recently making these more frequent. These frequent cyclones will cause buildings to deteriorate over a shorter period of time effectively reducing its lifespan and probably the need for rebuilding.

However, what he emphasized is the changing of the lifespan of every constructed building to compensate with more frequent cyclones. This design criterion overlooks another criterion that concerns itself with the effect of earthquakes. One requirement for construction of buildings to withstand cyclones is for it to be concrete. However, concrete structures are also more vulnerable to earthquakes most of which is unpredictable. This criterion should also be emphasized.

But his suggestions are well founded that those must be incorporated to our cities’ building codes not only to those cities that are frequently battered with cyclones. Because as his studies point out, the weather pattern has changed over time. That would only mean that it will continue to change and sooner or later, cyclones will start to take paths over cities supposedly safe from these calamities.

Flowchart Translator and Code Generator with GUI-IDE:


This study is presented by Mr. Anthony G. Undang from Cebu Institute of Technology, College of Computer Studies and this study is his master’s degree thesis. The study is about a flowchart translator and code generator with a graphical user interface development environment. This is a teaching tool that translates flowcharts into executable codes. These may be an effective way of teaching programming languages.
The study wants students to focus on analysis and problem solving processes and not worrying on the executable code but in my own opinion this might not help on students who are irresponsible. But nonetheless, this is up to those students to understand the flowchart and know how it is coded. And also this teaching tool may help instructors map between flowchart symbols, an effective way of teaching.
It is important for a programmer to know how to properly analyze, solve problems and to make a flowchart to have an effective plan or a clearer view of what the system is. And this study helps programmers make effective development with a less time for debugging.