TRE Students and Faculty presented papers in the 10th Annual Conference of the Asian Transportation Research Society in Bangkok, Thailand

The Asian Transportation Research Society held its 10^th Annual Conference last August 18, 2017 at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand. With the theme: “Transportation for a Better Life: Mobility and Road Safety Managements” The conference was attended by more than 200 participants coming from the Netherlands, Australia, Turkey, Philippines, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. The yearly international symposium draws together brilliant students, professionals, government officials, and representatives from the private sector who continuously work towards solving transportation issues around the world. The conference discussed issues regarding road safety regulations, accident awareness, and additional objectives in line with the existing millennium development goals initiated by the United Nations.

Dr. Fillone (2^nd from left) with plenary session speakers and the organizing committee of ATRANS 2017

Prof. Dr. Kazuhiko Takeuchi, President of International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences (IATSS) and His Excellency, Mr. Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, Thailand’s Minister of Transport, gave their welcome and opening remarks, respectively. Panel discussions were made by Dr. Mooren (Australia), Mr. Nishida (Japan), Prof. Dr. Zhao (China), Asst. Prof. Dr. Pawar (India), and Prof. Dr. Taneerananon (Thailand) that emphasized on mobility management in their corresponding countries. All speakers shared practical ideas for the transportation systems improvement especially for emerging countries such as the Philippines. There was a dynamic exchange between the moderator, speakers, and audience regarding the topic.

Transportation Science Society of the Philippines and DLSU full-time professor, Dr. Alexis M. Fillone, presented his topic of discussion on Disaster Preparedness and Response in the Philippines: The Case of Earthquakes and on behalf of Engr. Lovely Rañosa on the Jeepney Service Operation and Demand in Baguio City, Philippines.

Dr. Fillone with the DLSU presenters and co-authors

Dr. Fillone with Mr. Chamroon Tangpaisalkit, ATRANS Chairperson

Parallel discussion 2C chaired by Asst. Dr. Bhanitiz Aursudkij

DLSU Civil Engineering Students with specialization in Transportation Engineering students Estrella, A.F., Mendoza, A.K., Mendoza, M.A., Sanchez, K., winning the best paper presentation award in their session

The afternoon parallel sessions highlighted the technical paper discussions. A total of 6 technical papers were presented from the Philippines, all of which were from DLSU. These are:

•  Jeepney Service Operation and Demand in Baguio City [Ranosa, L.L., Fillone, A.M. and De Guzman, M.P.] 
• 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.]
• Determination of Trip Generation Rates of Malls in Dagupan City [Chichioco, A., Fan, K., Que, S., and Roncal, P.]
• Impact Analysis of Aerial Ropeway Transport System as a Form of Mass Transportation in Baguio City [Estrella, A.F.H., Mendoza, A.K.P., Mendoza, M.A.D.L., Sanchez, K.R., Fillone, A.M., Paringit, M.C.R., and Roxas, N.R.]
• Dynamic Parking and Availability Index System [Dumalaog, K.I.M., Fernando, E., Francisco, J.B., Sanchez, B.R., and Paringit, M.C.R.]
• Disaster Preparedness and Response in the Philippines: The Case of Earthquakes. [Fillone, A.M.]

Two of these presentations won the best paper and presentation awards, namely the paper by Estrella, A.F.H., et al. on Impact Analysis of Aerial Ropeway Transport System as a Form of Mass Transportation in Baguio City and that by Ranosa, L.L. et al. on Jeepney Service Operation and Demand in Baguio City.

The conference capped off the 10 productive ATRANS annual symposiums and marks another milestone in the organization’s rich history.  The ATRANS symposium is one avenue where continued collaboration between students and professionals in the transportation field is happening to address prevalent problems in the ASIAN region with innovative and sustainable solutions.

Write up by Miss Kim Mendoza.

CE Profs presented papers at SPACE2017

Dr. Oreta and Dr. Garciano present their plaque of appreciation as presenters

CE Dept. chair, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lessandro Garciano and Prof. Dr. Andres Oreta  presented plenary papers in the conference on Sustainable Proactive Advocacies in Civil Engineering (SPACE 2017) on Aug. 10-11, 2017 at the AIM, Makati City. SPACE 2017 is organized by PICE-Makati Chapter, ASEP and ISSEP. This year's theme is "Civil Engineers Getting ready for the Big One." 

Dr. Garciano  presented two papers: (a) Developing an Evacuation Safety Index (ESI) for Public Schools, and (b) Post-seismic Optimal Recovery Strategy for Water Lifeline Systems. 

Dr. Oreta, on the otherhand, presented a paper on "Making Cities Resilient to Disasters: The UNISDR Ten Essentials and Best Practices (The Case of Fukuoka, Japan)" 

Dr. Garciano is a director of ASEP, while Dr. Oreta is a fellow of ASEP.

Ongpeng, Former CE Dept Chair, earns D.Eng from TIT (Japan)

In March 2017, Jason Maximino C. Ongpeng, assistant professor of the Civil Engineering Department in De La Salle University- Manila, was awarded with a Doctor of Engineering Degree from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. He was a fellow of JSPS RONPAKU from which the dissertation program was done from fiscal year 2014 to 2017. The title of his dissertation was “Nonlinear Ultrasonic and Acoustic Emission Investigation of Concrete Damage” with Professor Sohichi Hirose and Professor Andres Winston C. Oreta  as the Japanese and Philippine advisers respectively.

 JMCOngpeng with TITECH President Yoshinao Mishima

JMCOngpeng with Professor Sohichi Hirose

Listed below are the ISI journal publications related to his dissertation:

1.)    “Nonlinear Ultrasonic Investigation of Concrete with Varying Aggregate Size under Uniaxial Compression Loading and Unloading”, Jason Maximino C. Ongpeng, Andres Winston C. Oreta, Sohichi Hirose, Kazuyuki Nakahata, Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 29(2): February 2017, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001726

2.)    “Artificial Neural Network Model using Ultrasonic Test Results to Predict Compressive Stress in Concrete”, Jason Maximino C. Ongpeng, Marcus Soberano, Andres Winston C. Oreta, Sohichi Hirose, Computers and Concrete, 19(1): 59-68, January 2017, doi: 10.12989/cac.2017.19.1.051

3.)    “Damage Progression in Concrete using Acoustic Emission Test through Convex Hull Visualization”, Jason Maximino C. Ongpeng, Andres Winston C. Oreta, Sohichi Hirose, ACI Materials, 113 (6): 737-744, November 2016, doi: 10.14359/51689238

4.)    “Effect of Load Pattern in the Generation of Higher Harmonic Amplitude in Concrete Using Nonlinear Ultrasonic Test”, Jason Maximino C. Ongpeng, Andres Winston C. Oreta, Sohichi Hirose, Journal of Advanced Concrete Technology, 14 (5): 205-214, May 2016, doi: 10.3151/jact.14.205

PhD Advisers: Prof. Oreta (DLSU) & Prof. Hirose (TIT)

About JSPS Ronpaku

The aim of this program has been to provide tutorial and financial support for promising researchers in countries of Asia and Africa or other specified countries who wish to obtain their PhD degrees from Japanese universities through the submission of a dissertation without matriculating a doctoral course. Grantees under the program (RONPAKU Fellows) are given the opportunity to visit their Japanese advisor to receive direct supervision at the Japanese university where they will submit their PhD thesis. The number of Ph.D. awardees from 1978 to 2015 coming from different countries are 757. From the Philippines, at present, there are 99 Ph.D. awardees, six of which came from DLSU-Manila. For more details, kindly visit https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-ronpaku/

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)