DSpace Repository (University of the Philippines Manila)
Not a member yet
397 research outputs found
Sort by
WADoTS: A Workflow Aware Document Tracking System for FDA
No full textFDA processes hundreds of documents per day. The movements of these documents are only recorded as they arrive to a particular department. Since these records are not centralized, there is no way of monitoring the movements of the documents efficiently. A centralized information system would seem to provide a solution, but FDA processes its documents with constantly changing workflows. Such changes would require heavy maintenance on information systems.
WADoTS is a workflow aware document tracking information system that is capable of facilitating the dynamic changes in document processing requirements and workflows of the FDA. Workflows and requirements are customized by the users without changing the system’s code. It provides user friendly interface in setting detailed routing and processing requirements of workflows. Authorized users are also able to see graphical representations of each document’s status
Adsorption of lead using mixed cultures of Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
No full textAdsorption using bacterial cultures is one of the methods broadly studied and used in the removal of heavy metal contaminants in water. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis are two of the known bacteria that can bioadsorb lead. This study determined the adsorptive ability of these species by measuring the amount of their lead uptake. Results show that P. aeruginosa exhibited higher percent adsorption, of 35.57%, than B. subtilis,with 27.84%. There is an apparent decrease in amount of lead uptake when these cultures were mixed, showed by the 17.53% percent adsorption exhibited by the mixed cultures. Statistical tests revealed two significant groups, with the first comprising of B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa and the other of B. subtilis and mixed culture. The adsorption process was found to fit the Freundlich model, implying that there is a possible interaction between P. aeruginosa and B. subtilis in the mixed culture which resulted to a decrease in their adsorptive abilities. This study concludes that the mixtures of heat-killed P. aeruginosa and B. subtilis have lower lead adsorptive ability than the individual cultures
Assessment of the genotoxic effects of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) among drivers of auto-LPG taxis using micronucleus test.
No full textFor almost a decade, LPG has been revolutionized as an alternative fuel source in the Philippines particularly for use on auto-LPG taxis. However, there are reported health concerns among drivers of auto-LPG taxis, which are allegedly linked to being exposed to LPG combustion products. To evaluate the possible biological effects that this exposure has on humans, genotoxicity was assessed using the micronucleus test. Samples were randomly collected from 22 drivers and nine office workers within Metro Manila. Results showed that exposure to LPG combustion products leads to genetic alteration manifested as micronuclei (p=0.029). However, observed group characteristics, such as age, smoking habits and alcohol habits, vary between the two groups studied. But after excluding the combined effect of these factors on mean micronucleated cells (MMC) using ANCOVA, the significant effect of LPG exposure was still found (p=0.048). After considering those extraneous factors individually using Multiple Linear Regression, they were found to have no effect on micronucleus formation (age p=0.228; drinking habit p=0.871; smoking habit p=0.317)
A Reversible Watermarking Java Application for Medical Images
No full textMedical Images are widely used around the world today. Especially with new
technology being developed, they are being used for more and more applications in the
medical field. As such, the security of the transfer of medical images is a necessity. Possible
situations might be unauthorized access, tampering of the images and even confusion of a
medical image for a different patient. Usually, image watermarking is used to achieve this.
However, inserting a watermark causes permanent distortions to the image used. For different
applications, these are acceptable for as long as the image is visually comparable to the
original. But for medical images, it is necessary that the image must exactly be the same as
the original, as even small changes could cause a wrong diagnosis and possibly even loss of
human life.
The Reversible Watermarking Application has been built to address these problems.
Reversible Watermarking has the added capability of perfectly restoring the carrier image
used. It allows the user to embed a watermark file to a single or multiple grayscale medical
images. Furthermore, the user can add security by providing a password which is then used
to generate a key for the encryption of the watermarked image using the Advanced
Encryption Standard. The Reversible Watermarking algorithm used, which relies on
Congruence Computations, allows for a high embedding capacity with a relatively small
complexity when compared with other reversible watermarking algorithms. Being the standard
used by the USA, the Advanced Encryption Standard assures that the encrypted image is
secure against possible attacks to gain access to the image
Isolation of indole-producing endophytes from mangrove species: growth promoter of Musa acuminate (Lacatan) and biological control agent against Ralstonia solanacearum.
No full textFungal endophytes were isolated from leaves, stems and roots of mangrove plants to investigate its ability to promote growth of Musa acuminata and as biological control agent against Ralstonia solanacearum. The isolates were subjected to IAA-test using Salkoswski’s reagent and agar plug assay. IAA-producing isolates formed red halo with different intensities that is directly proportional to the concentration of IAA produced. Zones of inhibition formed around the agar plugs show that the isolates inhibited the growth of R. solanacearum. M. acuminata plantlets were then infected with the following IAA-forming endophytes to assess the potential of each to promote shoot growth (treatment 1, isolate from leaves Bruguiera sexangula which produced the highest level of IAA, treatment 2, isolate from the roots of Pemphis acidula and treatment 3, isolates from a mixture of both). The height of M. acuminata plantlets were observed every two weeks. Results showed that both treatments 2 and 3 promoted growth of M. acuminata while treatment 1 inhibited increase in shoot length. The latter is due to the high concentration of IAA produced by the isolate that is inhibitory for plant growth. Two isolates showed antimicrobial activity against R. solanacearum. Statistical analysis showed that the The effect of the two isolates against R. solanacearum is the same
NutriMAC: A Web-based GIS for the Nutritional Monitoring and Assessment of Children 0-71 Months
No full textOperation Timbang is a program organized by the Department of Health that holds the annual mandatory weighing of children 0-71 months. Its primary objective is to monitor and identify the malnourished children. The current paper-based system of Operation Timbang makes data analysis hard and inaccurate. Using maps to visualize data makes interpretation of complex phenomena easier. With the internet, web-based GIS applications can be programmed as part of an interactive system in a website to expand access to public users. NutriMAC is a tool that uses maps to easily interpret trends in malnutrition. It can store children’s personal information and anthropometric data which is used to accurately calculate their malnutrition statuses
A SOCIAL BOOKMARKING AND ANNOTATION TOOL
No full textPeople nowadays use the Internet more frequently than they did before. One of the main reasons of web-use is for information gathering or researching. Since the web offers their users access to an array of information in different subject matters and with web-use varying from one person to another, an extensive range of web-based tools are strongly needed. Today, there are many applications that help in managing this problem in organization. Such tools facilitate Information Assimilation (IA) process thus grouping them into three categories namely: Web annotation, bookmarking and notetaking tools. Unfortunately, available applications do not offer all these actions or services. Most applications offer only two out of these three and some only offer them to its “premium members.”
A Social Bookmarking and Annotation Tool caters to these limitations that other similar applications have. It provides all three of the mentioned Information Assimilation (IA) services. This tool has an online library wherein a user could view his saved objects, share it with others and even participate in discussions to find out related information more efficiently. Aside from that, the tool has an extension provided for Google Chrome users. Here one can annotate the current webpage and change the layout of the page into something easier to read
Effects of exposure to sulfur dioxide on the histology of fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) gonads and fat bodies.
No full textThis study investigates the effect of larval exposure to sulfur dioxide on the histology of the Drosophila melanogaster gonads and fat bodies. The organs were examined through histological observation and measurement of testes area, ovariole number and fat body area and compared with those of the unexposed controls. Among the SO2-exposed flies. delayed maturation of the gonads was indicated by greater numbers of irregular spermatogenic cells in younger stages and by the decrease in the content of the acidophilic yolk cytoplasm in the mature eggs. An increase in glycogen storage within the fat bodies was observed in the flies exposed to 0.4 ppm SO2 It was also found that larger fat bodies are observed among female flies than in males. The increase in stored glycogen may be a mechanism that will allocate more energy stores for somatic maintenance. Antioxidant enzymes may also be produced at greater levels during exposure at larval stages. These mechanisms can reduce the allocation of the resources for reproduction and cause the delay in spermatogenesis and egg maturation. Larger fat bodies in females can be related to increased rate of lipid synthesis necessary for oocyte formation. These alterations in histology are discussed in terms of how low levels of SO2 exposure during larval development can influence reproductive capability and subsequently the relative fitness of the species in the long run
Age-related changes in the hypopharyngeal gland size and invertase activity in Apis cerana worker bees in queenright and queenless colony contitions.
No full textThe present study investigated whether Apis cerana worker bees in queenless and queenright colonies varied in their hypopharyngeal gland sizes and levels of invertase activities. It was hypothesized that the worker bees in queenright colonies would exhibit lagged shrinkage of the hypopharyngeal glands as their foraging behavior is delayed. Those from the queenright colonies would also have higher invertase specific activities as they are tasked to provide food to the growing bee population. Microscopic examinations of the hypopharyngeal glands and assays for invertase activity of the crop were conducted on works aged 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, and 17 days old. Following statistical analysis of data gathered, the results revealed that the changes in hypopharyngeal gland size were more prominently influenced by the age of workers up to 17 days from the time of emergence, rather than by the presence of the queen. However, one-way analysis of variance for invertase activity levels revealed the effect of the presence of the queen when workers were 3 to 17 days old. The relationship of the studied parameters, including the sucrose response time of 1- to 4-day-old bees, were discussed in terms of the physiological and behavioral changes undergone by the worker bees with and without the presence of a queen in the colony
Plant Leaf Recognition using Neural Networks (LeafRApp)
No full textPlant Leaf Recognition using Neural Networks (LeafRApp) is a desktop application which
recognizes a plant from an input image file using the plant leaf’s shape. A hybrid of two
modelling techniques is used to extract features from the leaf. The Moment-Invariant method is
used to extract the first four moments of the image while Centroid-Radii method is used to
extract 36 radii with respect to the image’s centroid.
An optional reduction feature is then used to reduce the list of matches of the unidentified plant
species inputted by the user