By early 2020, COVID-19 has caused a global pandemic which led to an enormous number of challenges worldwide in various sectors. The Philippine government has implemented multiple quarantine guidelines and travel restrictions to ensure the people’s health and safety. However, the International Labour Organization projected an initial economic and labor market disruption affecting 11 million workers, or about 25% of the Philippine workforce, due to the pandemic. Therefore, the government, thru the concerned agencies continues to encourage employers to implement alternative work plans such as a work-from-home (WFH) operation in compliance with the established regulations in line with existing laws and policies. In line with the telecommuting concept, various research has already been performed, however, some were regarded inconclusive and require further study. Hence, in this study, a Web application was developed along with an embedded fuzzy model to evaluate the telecommuting capability assessment of employees. The proposed web application with embedded fuzzy model is capable of providing capability assessment using the four main input variables which are also relatively characterized for possible telecommuting cost assessment.

Flooding is a perennial problem in the Philippines, particularly in its capital city of Manila. Sampaloc is one of the barangays in Manila vulnerable to flooding according to the Flood Risk Map of Metro Manila. The researchers considered España Boulevard as the area of study since it is one of the most flood prone roads in Manila, according to Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA). The study is focused on the analysis of Rainwater Gardens as an additional flood mitigation in España Boulevard using Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) simulation. Studies have proven that rainwater garden is considered as one of the most effective, simplest, and low-cost methods to address abrupt flooding. Moreover, it is easy to install, maintain and has a lot of advantages such as removing nutrient-based pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus, improving air quality, money saving and water conservation and improving environmental aesthetics. The data was collected through online surveys. The gathered data was calibrated and simulated using SWMM. As per the results, the rainwater garden is effective as an additional flood mitigation system since it can reduce the flood depth up to 19.42% and 14.78% for 25-year return period and 50-year return period storm, respectively. The delay of abrupt flooding is beneficial to the residents of flood prone areas. In real life scenario, the 0.15 m difference in flood depth for a 25-year return period storm and 0.17 m difference in flood depth for a 50-year return period storm will serve as longer time for evacuation of the residents when excessive flooding occurs. Moreover, rescuers will have more time to respond to affected areas and save more people.

This research project presents the development of a video game entitled “Chyilax” – an innovative three-dimensional video game about a person’s struggle against mental breakdown while trying to alleviate its symptoms. The game was developed to be a medium that would raise awareness about the risks and conditions of mental health breakdown. The player can choose to take the role of either a college student or a working adult, both experience symptoms due to a tangled situation in their past. The player was tasked to help the protagonist to overcome the symptoms before it leads to a nervous breakdown. In order to help the protagonist, make up with the people who got involved in their past circumstances through puzzle-solving, role-playing, and problem-solving. Chyilax was developed using Unity as its game engine while 3D models were created using Autodesk Maya. The project was tested and evaluated via a virtual open house. The questionnaires were collated online using an online form that assesses the following as criteria for the game: effectiveness, visuals, mechanics, audio, and enjoyment while the website: functionality, usability, reliability, performance, and supportability as criteria. The game received an overall mean of 4.32 while the website received an overall mean of 4.35, both of which have a verbal interpretation of “Strongly Agree”, which interprets that the objectives were achieved and drawn impact to raise awareness on issues focusing on mental breakdown.

During the outbreak of COVID-19, the productivity gap between working in the office and at home has become a more critical issue in the labor market. For teachers with numerous vital responsibilities, the inescapable increased workload results in less productivity and efficiency. Following the reliance on productivity applications to lessen labor, we investigated the moderating effects of sociodemographic profiles of teachers through the Technology Acceptance Model. The demographic makeup of our participants (n = 513) was dominated by assistant professors, females, married, licensed teachers, aged 25 to 34 with a teaching experience of 6 to 10 years, and permanent and full-time in a public university. Our findings demonstrate that sociodemographic variables moderate the effects of perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) on teachers’ behavioral intention to use (BITU), except for the effects of gender in PEOU → BITU, teaching experience in PEOU → BITU, and educational attainment in PU → BITU.

The Virtual Dietitian (VD) application is a nutrition knowledge-based system that generates personalized meal plans in accordance with the one-size-does-not-fit-all concept of precision nutrition. A subset of the population that was not involved in its four-part developmental study was gym and fitness enthusiasts despite them being important target users. As part of our quality improvement (QI) plan, we initiated a two-phase user testing to inform modifications to VD. We recruited a total of 30 users with prior experience in nutrition applications. In phase 1, they used the current version of VD for a week and answered a mixed-form questionnaire afterward. We used the same questionnaire from our previous study, which is composed of System Usability Scale (SUS) items and open-ended questions. After months of system modification, the same set of users evaluated again the new VD version after another week of use. A paired-sample t-test showed a statistically significant difference in SUS scores before (SUS = 79) and after (SUS = 82) modifying VD based on the suggestions of the participants (p = 0.005). Some new features include water tracker and reminder modules, Google Fit integration, and other nutrition support services (e.g., teleconsultation with registered dietitians). Although further refinements to VD are still needed, we were able to incorporate a QI initiative typically employed by healthcare organizations into software development for a better and improved personalized nutrition application.

Governments and health agencies around the world have been at the forefront of managing the COVID-19 pandemic. To control the spread of the outbreak, mandatory safety protocols have been put into effect. Despite the continuous development and strict enforcement of these preventive guidelines, non-compliance with these mandatory safety protocols has been reported. Getting the message to the public is one of the key challenges in convincing people to follow mitigation policies. In this study, we employed the media of video games to advocate for COVID-19 safety protocols. We developed a video game called "Corona Larona" that features microgames with action gameplay playable on a mobile platform. Our video game concentrated on several preventive measures such as physical distancing, hand washing, wearing face masks as well as basic knowledge about the virus using in-game multiple choice questions. To our knowledge, this is the first video game dedicated to the COVID-19 outbreak and the mandatory safety protocols. In a time when many people play video games to survive their current situation, the Corona Larona game is a strategic example of using and maximizing this form of media for a more noble purpose.

Student engagement and enrichment are key factors as learners have shifted from the traditional classroom to the virtual classroom when a flexible learning environment has been in place. It has posed a challenge for educators to shift from traditional educational methods to the utilization of technology-enhanced learning all the more since online and flexible mode were often used since the pandemic. This paper intends to convey that students may exhibit engagement inside the virtual classroom by posting student-generated questions during a discussion forum in the Canvas LMS as question-based inquiries. More so, students have enjoyed and increase their academic performance by playing and participating in a gamified learning activity. This research discussed an activity in encouraging students' learning, curiosity, and involvement in online learning environments. The authors aim for this objective by fusing the 1) utilization of student-generated questions in the goal of promoting learning and thinking, and 2) boosting student engagement through the use of gamified activities which increases students’ academic performance. These intentions will be realized in the virtual classroom implementation and its assessment. Employing the Canvas New Analytics, 148 first year-second semester students questioned their teacher about a course topic and as their questions were each replied to, they were graded through discussion post with an average grade of 99% for all sections. The game Jeopardy was played as an examination review session for the same sections and 181 students from the four sections have an average grade score of 77.5% in their midterm examination. A course learning objective item is also measured with a university target that at least 60% of students should reach an average grade score of 80% and above. For the CLO target, average of four sections reached 68.3% which is descriptively attained. Generating questioned-based inquiry in the forum discussion showed an increase in engagement and enrichment from students. The findings have a positive impact on them as their posted inquiries and questions gained them grades which indicated high average grade for each section. Utilizing a gamified learning activity in a pure online setting for the school year 2021-2022, allowing the students to participate in educational games is necessary to boost engagement and enrichment as well.

Efficient and reliable medical image analysis is indispensable in modern healthcare settings. The conventional approaches in diagnostics and evaluations from a mere picture are complex. It often leads to subjectivity due to experts' various experiences and expertise. Using convolutional neural networks, we proposed an end-to-end pipeline for automatic Cobb angle measurement to pinpoint scoliosis severity. Our results show that the Residual U-Net architecture provides vertebrae average segmentation accuracy of 92.95% based on Dice and Jaccard similarity coefficients. Furthermore, a comparative benchmark between physician's measurement and our machine-driven approach produces an acceptable mean deviation of 1.57 degrees and a T-test p-value of 0.9028, indicating no significant difference. This study has the potential to help doctors in prompt scoliosis magnitude assessments.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption to the economy due to the increasing infection that affects the workforce in different sectors. The Philippine government has imposed lockdowns to control the spread of infection. This urged the different sectors to implement flexible work schedules or work from home setup. A work-from-home (WFH) setup burdens both the employee and employer by installing different equipment set-ups such as WiFi-equipped laptops, computers, tablets, or smartphones. However, the internet stability in some of the areas in the Philippines is not yet reliable. In this study, an application is used collect survey information and provide an estimate of the telework internet cost requirement of a given government employee or a given government employee implementing a work-from-home set up in their respective household. This involves survey results from different respondents who are currently on a work-from-home setup and significant factors from the survey have been analyzed using machine learning (ML) algorithms. Among the machine learning algorithms used, the ensemble bagged trees model outperformed the other ML models. This work can be extended by incorporating a wider scope of datasets from different industry doing work from home set-up. In addition, in terms of education, it is also recommended to determine the WFH set up not just with the government employee and employer but to also extend this into the education side.

Visual impairment can make pedestrian crossing quite the ordeal as the individuals cannot rely on their other senses to determine when it is safe to cross. Pedestrian lanes are visual indicators and sound is impeded by the noise of vehicles passing by.This paper aims to provide visually impaired individuals with data that is normally not available to them due to their disability. With modern advances in computer vision and small form factor electronics, the researchers were able to create a wearable piece of technology running Object detection and Face recognition technologies on a Raspberry Pi 4.Given the Raspberry Pi 4’s capabilities, the researchers were also able to add in extra safety modules such as GPS and Emergency SMS systems in the event that the user is in an accident. Test results show that the device was able to perform its core function within its intended parameters.Though the functions are still limited due to the available technology at the time, there are better components available, especially in an international level, that can greatly improve the final product such as a higher quality camera and a better suited power supply.