TRE Students and Faculty at the 24th Transportation Science Society of the Philippines Annual National Conference

The Transportation Science Society of the Philippines held its 24^th annual national conference last July 21, 2017 at the National Center for Transportation Studies, UP Diliman, Quezon City.  With the theme: Improving Quality of Life in Urban and Rural Areas through Inclusive Transportation, the conference was attended by more than 150 participants coming not only from Metro Manila, but even as far as Baguio city up North and Cagayan de Oro City down South. From students to professionals, from academe to government representatives, and even those from the private sector, everyone aspires to help improve the transportation problems of the nation and one simple step towards this goal is by attending this conference. The conference discussed many issues in the transport sector and presented goals to achieve in the  coming years.

Dr. Alexis M. Fillone giving his welcome remarks

Keynote speaker, Dr. Testuo Yai

TSSP President as well as DLSU full-time professor, Dr. Alexis M. Fillone, kicked off the event with his welcoming remarks. He called on the organization to act on the challenges that inclusive transportation brings, stating that this year’s theme is timely and relevant. Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies(EASTS) President, Dr. Testuo Yai, graced the organization with his keynote lecture entitled: Emerging Asia Strategy for Transport-oriented Sustainability. He believes that TSSP will strive for better transportation system in the country and make continuous significant contribution to our society’s future.

Dr. Fillone with Panelist and Facilitator Dr. Sheilah Napalang

The panel discussion yielded fruitful talks between panelists, reactors and the participants. The panelists consist of government representatives and those from the private sector. The government highlighted the Build! Build! Build! Program of the National Government which made the members excited for things to come. Transport knowledge and issues were shared upon not only between panelists and reactors as well as with the participants.

TRE students Estrella, A.F., Mendoza, A.K., Mendoza, M.A., Sanchez, K., winning the best presentation award in their session

The afternoon sessions highlighted the technical paper discussions. Universities, such as DLSU, Mapua, UPD, and Ateneo and the private sector shared their researches in transportation. A total of 10 technical papers were presented from DLSU. These are:

• ·         Jeepney Service Operation and Demand in Baguio City [Ranosa, L.L., Fillone, A.M. and De Guzman, M.P.]
• ·         Estimating Potential Economic Losses from a Nationwide Jeepney Strike [Roquel, K.I.D., Fillone, A.M. & Yu, K.D.]
• ·         Pedestrianization in Baguio City [Agustin, E.D.T., Buhay, J.I.I., Gilbuena, K.K.T., Reyes, M.S.C., Roxas, N.Jr.R. and Paringit, M.C.R.]
• ·         Impact Analysis of Aerial Ropeway Transport System as a Form of Mass Transportation in Baguio City [Estrella, A.F., Mendoza, A.K., Mendoza, M.A., Sanchez, K., Fillone, A., Paringit, M.C. and Roxas, N.]
• ·         Proposed Standard Jeepney Fare Using Fuzzy Logic [Bacero, R., Bandala, A. and Fillone, A.]
• ·         Multicriteria and Indicator-based Desirability Assessment of Transport Systems [Lopez, N.S., Biona, J.B.M., Fillone, A. and Shwanen, T.]
• ·         Comparison of Trip Attraction Between Malls and Schools in the City of Dagupan, Philippines [Zamora, J.T. and Fillone, A.M.]
• ·         Changes in Inter-City Travel Behavior in Metro Manila due to Flooding [Abad, R.P., Fillone, A.M. and Schwanen, T.]
• ·         Influence of Transportation Services in the Socio-Economic Development: The Case of North Cotabato Province [Alucilja, K.M.B. and Fillone, A.M.]
• ·         A Stated Preference Study to Determine Demand Shift for a Proposed Expressway Along C-5 [Pique, G.M.L. and Fillone, A.M.]

Also, the paper by Estrella, A.F., et al. won the best presentation award in their session.

The conference was a success which yielded fruitful discussions and collaborations between professionals and students. The transportation field affects every Filipino and it is important that problems should be addressed the soonest. 

TSSP 2017 Participants

CE Faculty at University College London for PRISMH Project

The PRISM Team from DLSU, UCL and XU

With UCL Researchers

Dr. Lessandro Garciano (CE Dept. Chair and PRISMH PH Project leader), Prof. Andres Oreta and Engr. Richard De Jesus held an academic visit the University College London (UK) in relation to the British Council - CHED funded project, "Philippine Resilience of School Infrastructureto Multi-Hazard (PRISMH)" last June 19-26, 2017. PRISMH, a collaborative project of DLSU with UCL and Xavier University (CdeO) seeks to develop a science-based resilience assessment framework for school infrastructure subjected to different natural hazards in the Philippines.

The activities conducted during the one-week academic visit were:

• June 19 - PRISMH Seminar on Safety of Schools where professors and researchers of  the Civil Engineering Department of UCL and EPIcentre presented papers

• June 20 - The Kick-off meeting of PRISMH where the accomplishments of the first three months of the projects were discussed in the morning.  In the afternoon, DLSU, XU and UCL researchers presented their respective researches. Dr. Garciano introduced the CE Dept. of DLSU and his on-going researches on PSHA, Schools and Wind Eng'g. Dr. Oreta presented his work on safe schools. Engr. De Jesus presented his researches on concrete deterioration.
• June 21 - Dr. Garciano and Dr. Oreta presented plenary papers on school evacuation in the 7th Annual Confrence of UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction (IRDR).
• June 22 - Debriefing meetings of the PRISMH Project to discuss future tasks and Lab tour were held
• June 23 - Site Visits

With the IRDR Director and Dr. Galasso

DLSU faculty and Phil. participants in the UCL IRDR 7th Annual Conference

7th Annual Conference UCL IRDR
(Photo from https://www.ucl.ac.uk/rdr/irdr/general-news/irdr-annual-conference-report)

Oreta lectures at Kyushu University

Prof. Andres Winston Oreta delivered a lecture on "Making Cities Resilient: The Ten Essentials and Best Practices"at Kyushu University on July 5, 2017. The lecture was attended by undergraduate and graduate students and faculty under the Research Group on Adaptation to Global Geo-disaster and Environment headed by Prof. Hemanta Hazarika.

Oreta is at Kyushu University, Ito Campus from June 29 - July 10, 2017 as a visiting researcher under the AUN/SEED-Net Short Term Research in Japan Program (SRJP) with Prof. Hazarika as host professor. His theme for the short visit is "Making Cities Resilient to Natural Disasters: Learning and Adapting Best Practices from Japan (The Case of Kumamoto and Fukuoka)".

Research Plan:

Based on the Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030, UNISDR proposed a new assessment checklist for "Making Cities Resilient.”  The new ten essential checklist is presently in the evaluation and development stage. Applying this checklist to selected cities that have a track record of being resilient to disasters will guide the researcher on what practices and strategies are effective to build resilience.  Many cities in Japan like Fukuoaka and Kumamoto have strong and effective programs on disaster resilience. Kumamoto, in particular, experienced an earthquake in 2016. Learning from the experience of Kumamoto with respect to disaster resilience and rehabilitation to the recent earthquake and identifying some of the best practices on disaster resilience in cities like Kumamoto and Fukuoka will provide useful information to the researcher on how to localize and adapt these best practices in the cities in the Philippines.

With Prof. Hazarika (also an alumnus of Nagoya University)

Kyushu University, Ito Campus

Kyushu University, Ito Campus is located on a hilly area in Fukuoka

Past ASEP Prexy is a professional lecturer at CE Dept!

Engr. Frederick Francis Sison, a two-term president of the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines (ASEP) is the first part-time faculty hired to teach at the Civil Engineering Department with a rank of “professional lecturer.” This rank is assigned to teaching faculty (even without a PhD) who have excelled in their professional practice by occupying key positions in private or government institutions. Engr. Sison who has a MSCE from UP, Diliman is a partner of the E.H. Sison Engineers, Co. (EHSEC) and consultant to various structural and geotechnical engineering projects. He is a PICE member and officer of the Makati Chapter, an ASEAN Chartered Professional Engineer and a member of the ISSEP.  As a part-time faculty, he teachers Foundation Engineering, Structural Analysis and Design courses. 

Research on Repair of RC Columns presented at the XIV DBMC - Ghent, Belgium

One of the sessions was held at the mezzanine with exposed timber trussed frames

Prof. Andres Oreta presented the research, "Investigation of Concrete Mixtures for the Concrete Cover Repairs of RC Square Columns," an undergraduate research by Anna Francesca Del Castillo, Romwell Louis Tan and Sarah Linette Cornejo at 14th International Conference on Durability of Building Materials & Components (XIV DBMC) held at University of Ghent, Belgium on May 29-31, 2017. The venue was "Het Pand", a former Dominican monastery which is also the cultural centre of the university. 

The paper explores the effect of various types of concrete mixtures  in the repair of the concrete cover of rectangular RC columns.  In this study, two types of admixtures – one with waterproofing admixture and another with water reducer admixture were used as a replacement to the “spalled “ concrete cover. The repaired columns were tested uni-axially to investigate the effect of the concrete cover on the axial capacity of the columns. Based on this study, the concrete mixture with the water-reducing admixture replacing the  damaged concrete cover of  rectangular columns showed the most positive effects such as (a) a significant increase of  the confined compressive strength, (b) an increase in the ductility as reflected by the large displacements at the peak and ultimate conditions, and (c) reduction in the lateral strain of the steel ties at peak values showing its effectiveness in confinement of the RC column.

Among the interesting and related researches presented in the plenary and keynote sessions were:

• 3D printed concrete - beyond durability? 
• Advanced high-resolution X-ray CT as a characterization tool to study building materials
• A novel approach towards conservation of the world heritage RC building in Japan
• Durability of Concrete Prepared with Ternary Binder Systems Involving Limestone and Calcined clay
• SEACON Project : sustainable concrete using seawater, salt-contaminated aggregates, and non-corrosive reinforcement
• Physical and mechanical properties of recycled concrete aggregate exposed to natural and accelerated carbonation
• Improving the quality of various types of recycled aggregates by biodeposition
• Applicability of non/minor destructive test methods for evaluation of material properties of existing timber structures
• The influence of estimated service life on the embodied emissions of zero emission buildings (ZEBs) when choosing low-carbon building products
• Probabilistic evaluation of the concrete durability subject to accelerated decay by salt crystallization

The venue was "Het Pand", a former Dominican monastery

Acknowledgement: Dr. Jason Maximino Ongpeng for the ISI publication, VCA Faculty Development Funds for ISI Publications