The bond strength in reinforced concrete is defined as resistance to slipping of the reinforcing steel bars from the concrete. This slipping resistance is one of the most important features in the performance of the reinforced concrete structure, particularly to its failure mode and mechanisms. In this study, a hybrid model using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) has been developed to predict and optimize the ultimate bond strength (tu) between the reinforcing bar and the concrete based on numerous variables that influence this property. These variables include 28-day cube compressive strength f'c), concrete cover (c), the diameter of reinforcing bar (db), embedded length (Lm), rib height (hr), and rib spacing (sr). ANN was utilized into the prediction of bond property between the reinforcing bar and concrete based on the aforesaid input variables. The ultimate bond strength predicted by ANN model exhibited reasonably accurate and good agreement with the experimental values. On the other hand, GA was deployed in the search for the optimal combination of the input variables which resulted in high bond strength performance. Optimization results showed that smaller hr and sr developed high quality of the bond between the reinforcing steel bar and the concrete.

The game entitled “The Planet” aims to educate young generations regarding waste segregation, tree planting, reducing the use of pollutants and other factors concerning global warming. The virtual environment immerses players, ages 10-25. The game combines strategies used in commercial gaming environments to motivate players in preserving the planet. It comprises with three different stages, The Dessert, The Water, and The Factory. Each stage, player needs to traverse the environment and solve some puzzles that aim to simulate simple solutions in fixing environmental problems.

This project will enable to raise awareness regarding public health and common illness in different parts of the world. With use of Twitter stream, it enables to collect global trending issues and to visualize areas prone to illness thru Heat map. It helps to address the needs of certain area to send assistance such as vaccines, antibiotics, etc. The HealthSource Web Application also have modules is to provide useful information regarding their medicine intake to such illnesses in the easiest and most understandable way.

Charlson Ong’s award-winning novel An Embarrassment of Riches (2000) creatively narrates the history of the Chinese diaspora as an overdetermined event in the Southeast Asian Region. The novel explores the politics of belonging, displacement, identity, and territory through a/n (re)imagined nation built primarily on Philippine historical and cultural contingencies. This essay seeks to explore the junctures and vicissitudes of the Chinese diaspora in the region through the following questions: How is hybridity manifested by selected characters and other cultural elements in the narrative? Second, how do the perceptions of homeland, marked by ambivalence and contradiction, operate in the narrative? And third, how does the memory of the characters’ homeland or the lack of it contribute to identity formation? Furthermore, an analysis of the novel’s form has been conducted, possibly asserting the notion that the genre is also a hybridized entity. This paper illustrates the complexity of the Chinese diaspora in the region and its bearing to identity formation.