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)

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