Browsing by Title

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    17 MOOCs In Six Emerging APEC Member Economies –Trends, Research, and Recommendation
    (Routledge, 2020) Jung, Insung ; Garcia Mendoza, Gibran A. ; Fajardo, Jennifer Christine ; Figueroa, Roberto B. Jr. ; Tan, Siaw Eng
    A collaborative team of five foreign researchers who reside in Japan purposefully conducted research to describe the development of MOOCs in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Mexico. It is important to point out that these countries represent six emerging economies that are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). It seeks to answer three key questions: (1) When did MOOCs begin in APEC countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America? (2) How did they develop? (3) How were they supported? To accomplish these goals, research articles published in relevant local, regional, and international journals together with related books and reports were thoroughly examined. Furthermore, interviews of local experts were also conducted to provide meaningful context. This chapter begins with a review of the overall trends of MOOC growth in the six selected countries. It then discusses research findings and local experts’ comments on MOOC-based learning experiences and points out various challenges currently faced as well as apparent opportunities moving forward. Finally, it concludes with several valuable lessons learned from the MOOC experiences of those emerging economies.
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    A Comparative Study of Laws and Policies on Plastic Waste Management Between Indonesia and the Philippines
    ( 2025) Pasillas II, Arnold L.
    This study presents a comparative analysis of plastic waste management laws, policies, and practices in Indonesia and the Philippines, two of Southeast Asia’s most plastic-intensive economies. Grounded in five central pillars—policy and regulation, community capacity and management, technological innovation, partnerships and collaboration, and behavioral and cultural transformation—the research examines both institutional frameworks and community-level interventions to evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of current approaches. Through thematic qualitative analysis, the study identifies recurring implementation gaps linked to enforcement challenges, infrastructure limitations, and inconsistent public participation, despite the presence of comprehensive legal instruments such as Indonesia’s National Plan of Action on Marine Debris and the Philippines’ Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. The findings culminate in a 10-point strategic framework designed to guide local and national decision-makers toward scalable, inclusive, and systems-oriented solutions. Key themes include the rise of hybrid waste management models blending technology with grassroots engagement, the evolving role of informal sectors, and the critical need for cross-sector alignment in achieving circular economy goals. The study underscores the importance of maintaining momentum in regulatory development while strengthening mechanisms for community integration, inter-agency coordination, and private sector engagement. Beyond the national lens, this research contributes to the broader ASEAN agenda on environmental cooperation by offering context-specific insights and replicable practices that can support regional harmonization of plastic waste strategies. Ultimately, it offers a timely reminder that meaningful progress in addressing plastic pollution requires not only policy commitment but sustained, multi-level alignment across institutional, societal, and market-driven actors.
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    A Culturally-Congruent Sexuality Education Content for Adolescents in Legazpi City
    ( 2012) Mirandilla, Ma. Elma L.
    This study generated age-appropriate, culturally congruent sexuality education content for adolescents 10-18 years old. It identified topics for each key concept designed for age categories: 10-12, 13-15 and 16-18 years old. The proposed sexuality education content was based on the consensus among teachers through three rounds of Delphi Technique using UNESCO’s International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education. The consensus on key ideas and topics was supported by significant perceptions of local experts gathered through one-on-one interviews. The research was conducted in Legazpi City. All six key concepts and topics of the Technical Guidance were found acceptable across all age categories except for several key ideas. The key concepts include: Relationships; Values, Attitudes and Skills; Culture, Society and Human Rights; Human Development; Sexual Behavior; and Sexual and Reproductive Health. Probable reasons for excluding some key ideas under various key concepts may be ascribed to the attitudes of adults specifically, prohibitive silence and adultism. Teachers and key informants in this study believed that children were too young to understand and that providing them information will provoke curiosity and entice them to engage in sexual activity. Pursuing a culturally-sound and age-appropriate sexuality education content is indispensable at this time of globalization when adolescents are drawn close to reproductive health risks primarily due to their lack of information on their sexuality. Thus, an appropriate and comprehensive sexuality education program is a significant preventive strategy.
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    A Digital Platform for the Documentation and Exploration of Drag Culture and Artistry in the Philippines
    ( 2025) Bacanes, John Victor R.
    Makulay: A Digital Platform Prototype for the Documentation and Exploration of Drag Culture and Artistry in the Philippines is a project addressing the need for structured, inclusive, and accessible digital spaces for Filipino drag. Filipino drag remains underdocumented even though drag has gained visibility through popular culture and media. To address this gap, Makulay is designed as a digital platform that functions as a cultural archive, educational resource, and community hub dedicated to preserving and amplifying drag artistry in the Philippines. As informed by Queer Theory, Performance Theory, and the Queer Speculative Design for Cultural Empowerment (QSDCE) framework, this study employs a User-Centered Design (UCD) methodology. These perspectives guide both the conceptual grounding and design process, hence it ensures that the platform is inclusive, responsive, and culturally empowering. With that, the prototype integrates features such as drag artist profiles, an interactive historical timeline, a drag culture dictionary, a multimedia repository, and virtual interactive community hub. The data collection involved in this study were interviews, surveys, and user evaluations, which were analyzed thematically to identify user needs and challenges. Findings highlight four recurring themes: the urgency of archiving drag culture, the demand for representation and visibility, structural challenges faced by drag communities, and the potential of digital platforms to provide spaces of preservation, education, and empowerment. By situating Filipino drag within a digital framework, Makulay contributes to cultural preservation, queer representation, and multimedia design practices. The project demonstrates the role of digital platforms in legitimizing drag artistry and sustaining community engagement.
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    A Grounded Theory of Developer Communication in Extreme Programming Practices
    ( 2024) Viray, Ben Hur C.
    There is evidence that Extreme Programming (XP) software development practices are still actively used by Information Technology (IT) projects under the Agile methodology, one of the famous software development life cycle (SDLC) models. However, more information about the communication between programmers or developers for these XP practices is needed. Thus, this study, employing a constructivist grounded theory (CGT) design which emphasizes the construction of knowledge through the interpretation of data, was conducted to explore developer communication for significant XP practices. For the initial data, the researcher was fortunate to have the participation of eleven out of fifteen IT professionals, each with at least a decade of work experience. Their expertise was invaluable in shaping the direction of the research. Three out of four identified developers also participated in a follow-up questionnaire. Subsequently, semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted, focusing on their top three practices: Planning Game, Test-Driven Development (TDD), and Small Releases, which were selected based on their perceived importance in IT projects. During the interviews, it became evident that the developers play multiple roles, each significantly influencing communication. These fourteen identified roles highlight their work’s diverse and complex nature: Assessor, Collaborator, Coordinator, Designer, Developer, Documenter, Interpreter, Learner, Mentor, Negotiator, Presenter, Researcher, Tester, and Translator. The developers interacted with seven teams categorized into four groups based on their modes of communication: Direct Managers and Change management under Linear-Interactional, Business Team under Interactional, External Developers, Functional Resources, and Technical Team under Interactional-Transactional, and Transactional-Interactional for Internal Developers. With all the combined practices, roles, and interactions, this study has proposed an XP Developer Communication (XPDC) model. This framework can serve as a guide for understanding and improving developer communication in XP projects. For instance, it can help identify the key roles and their communication needs or guide the selection of appropriate communication modes for different teams. Although not all XP practices are covered, the components are enough to cover all the essential developer communication practices in XP.
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    A Home for Psychotic Depression: Building a Personal Knowledge Base for Meaning-Making in Obsidian
    ( 2025) Velo, Christian Paul R.
    This project outlines the creation of a multimedia prototype for an interactive digital environment that supports meaning-making, particularly in the context of psychotic depression, where meaning-making is severely compromised. The prototype comes in the form of a personal knowledge base (PKB) that captures and explores situational meanings and facilitates assisted meaning-making. The PKB was produced through techniques adapted from personal knowledge management — such as Johnny.Decimal, the Slip-box Method, and Maps of Content — and insights formed from my lived experience with psychotic depression, including a private dataset containing my firsthand account of the condition and other personal information. The methodology employed for the project is an iterative design approach that employs Obsidian third-party plugins, CSS, JavaScript, and Python to extend the functionality of the default Obsidian vault into a PKB optimized for meaning-making. Each iteration was documented using a changelog with semantic versioning. The methodology is rooted in the proposed Multimedia Meaning-making Model for Psychotic Depression (M4PD), a novel integrative framework derived from Hyper-meaning (van Os, 2014), Kegan’s Theory of Meaning-making (Kegan et al., 1982; Kegan, 1994), and the Meaning Making Model (Park, 2022). The project spanned an estimated 1 year, with the latest version of the PKB at Version 2.2.0. The PKB has multiple features that collectively enable the streamlined capture and exploration of situational meanings — which are excessive in states of psychosis — and facilitate assisted meaning-making, which addresses the disruptions to global meaning caused by depression. It is to be noted that the PKB successfully produced a topological network of over 12,000 nodes, comprised of entries about psychotic depression and my personal life from 2018 to 2025, suggesting an emergent yet unrefined map of my meaning-making. The results presented in this project are part of an ongoing, larger effort to develop an interactive digital environment for supporting meaning-making. The project concludes with a call for a future product, unique enough to warrant its own designation — the Personal Meaning Base or PMB.
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    A Narrative Inquiry into the Meaning of Smoking among Farmworkers in Southern Philippines
    (Southeastern Philippines Journal of Research and Development, 2024-09-14) Malinda, Reymark P. ; Flor, Benjamina Paula G.
    Cigarette smoking is recognized as a global health threat. By the same token, it remains highly prevalent in low and middle-income families like farmworkers, despite efforts by the government and private health agencies to prevent smoking. Thus, this study explored the meaning of smoking among farmworkers and how the meanings reproduced their tenets while living in a farming community. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that qualitatively investigated the smoking phenomenon among farmworkers in a rural area in Southern Philippines— a topic that has not been treated in much detail in the literature. The research framework used in this work is the socio-cultural tradition (SCT) of communication theory, which theorizes communication as the (re)production of the social order. Using narrative inquiry, the study delved into the seven narratives of farmworker participants about the meaning of smoking. Individual open interviews were conducted among the participants to elicit stories relative to their experience with smoking. The data were analyzed through re-storying and narrative thematic analysis, yielding five themes constituting their meaning of smoking that reproduced a new social order. Results showed that smoking is (1) a parent and peer influence, (2) a means to manage negative feelings and emotions, (3) a thought-provoker and organizer, (4) a culture among friends, and (5) an integral part of life. All these meanings consequently formed and reinforced a new social order, seemingly an indestructible barrier to smoking cessation. Anchored on SCT, it can be surmised that farmworkers’ tenets, while living in their community, were reproduced by these meanings of smoking that governed their lives.
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    A Quantitative Investigation into the Influence of User-Generated Content on Gen Z Consumers' Purchasing Behavior on Shopee and Lazada
    ( 2024) Guevarra, Preciosa Christine C.
    This study focuses mainly on the influence of user-generated content, specifically in the two popular e-commerce platforms, Shopee and Lazada, on the purchasing decisions of Gen Z consumers in Los Baños, Laguna. It also further explores how these Gen Z consumers rely on and trust UGC and critically review such content before deciding to purchase. Moreover, the sample size of respondents in this study is relatively small, as it is limited only to 100 and mainly Gen Z consumers of Shopee and Lazada who are 18 to 26 years old and live in Los Baños, Laguna. It will not cover or compare to the other generations and other e-commerce or social media platforms that have adopted the use of UGC. Lastly, the results or findings are limited only based on the information and insights provided by the respondents from the survey questionnaires as well as existing related literature and studies from various online sources.
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    A Study of Filipino Gen Zs Residing in the Greater Manila Area’s Perception of P-Pop’s Potential as a Global Phenomenon
    ( 2024) Buñag, Karla Kate M.
    Utilizing a quantitative-descriptive research design, this study determines the significant relationship between the level of activeness on social media platforms and the level of awareness and familiarity with P-Pop, determines the significant difference between the perceived P-Pop's ability to achieve global recognition and its factors, and determines the significant difference between the perceived P-Pop's ability to achieve global recognition and its cultural showcase, innovation and representation elements. It surveyed 385 Filipino Gen Zs residing in the Greater Manila Area about their perceptions of P-Pop and its potential to become a global phenomenon. The findings of this study revealed that Gen Zs view P-Pop’s potential to become a global phenomenon positively. In addition, they find that social media presence is the most important factor for P-Pop to achieve such status. Furthermore, cultural representation and innovative elements were also viewed positively and important factors as well. With these findings, the researcher gave recommendations of potential strategies and insights for P-Pop industry stakeholders and future interested researchers.
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    ACES: Automated Academic Essay Scoring Using a Natural Language Processing-Based Regression Mechanism
    (Asian Association of Open Universities, 2022) Pugoy, Reinald Adrian
    Academic essays are essential testing instruments that evaluate the students’ ability to organize thoughts and synthesize information. However, grading them is an exhausting and cumbersome process that requires considerable manpower. It may be prone to errors, and there are also serious concerns about fairness, such that an essay graded B+ today may be graded B- tomorrow by the same checker. Therefore, the author proposes ACES, an essay scoring mechanism that employs natural language processing (NLP) to address the issue at hand. NLP is a sub-field of artificial intelligence (AI) concerned with granting computers the ability to understand texts in much the same way humans can. With essay scoring reformulated as a regression problem, ACES takes the essay answer as the input, converts it to a vector representation of numbers in the embedding space, and feeds it to the neural network model (which serves as the approximate regression function) to predict its score as the output. In this paper, the author successfully implements four versions of ACES that employ different embedding sources and neural network models, with the ACES variant that considers context and word frequency information performing the best (i.e., ACES-BERT).
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    Achieving Ecological Sustainability through a Geospatial Assessment of Urban Landscapes: A Case Study of Metro Manila
    ( 2023) Paredes, Ulysses Nolan C.
    The compact city model has been an accepted alternative to urban sprawl. However, the densification of cities has led to a loss of urban green spaces, which provide important ecosystem services such as health benefits, climate regulation, and recreation opportunities. This study focuses on the dynamics of landscape change in Metro Manila from 1992 to 2022, using spatiotemporal analysis and remote sensing technology. The study found that there is an overall loss of urban green spaces in Metro Manila, with 77.69% of the city being composed of impervious land cover and 16.15% being pervious cover with urban greens and vegetation, and 4.27% is water. Much of the undisturbed vegetation are within the region’s protected landscapes and private parks and golf courses. Environmental variables such as NDVI show a decrease (-0.03) in the average vegetation health and an increase in the average land surface temperature (+1.60°C) highlighting the urban heat island. The study presents how a low-cost rapid assessment of urban green spaces in Metro Manila can be achieved to identify and map changes in the landscape, understand the drivers of change, and introduce appropriate interventions and management paradigms to enhance the city's resilience in the face of climate change. It is essential to have objective environmental assessment and territorial planning and decision-making stages to consider the needs of the landscape and improve the quality and quantity of urban green spaces.
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    Adapting the Compass Framework in a hybrid course on wearable technology design and futures thinking
    ( 2022-11) Maranan, Diego S.
    The Wearable Futures Hackathon (WFH) was a 12-week long, hybrid learning experience was collaboratively created with and for undergraduate students at UP Open University’s Bachelor of Arts program in Multimedia Studies (BAMS). The course explores wearable technology, e-textiles, speculative design, and futures thinking. The course is the first of its kind at the university in terms of the following aspects: - The course themes (i.e., physical computing, e-textiles, speculative design, and futures thinking); and - The use of a hybrid format (80% online, 20% face to face) for BAMS studio course. For this course, the Index Project's design thinking framework--the Compass--was integrated with UPOU’s standard principle and practices in outcomes-based online learning design resource-based course authoring.
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    Advancing the SDGs through Visayan Museum Practices: a Focused Ethnography Toward ASEAN Socio-Cultural Collaboration
    ( 2025) Martinez, Aspen Dolene
    Museums within the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) are recognized as vital sectors to drive Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  However, the link between museums and the SDGs remains unclear, particularly in  terms of how local museums can make tangible contributions. Hence, this  ethnographic study explored the practices, challenges, and opportunities in Visayan museums for advancing the SDGs, contributing to creating an avenue for ASEAN  socio-cultural collaboration. Eight museum employees and 12 stakeholders were selected using purposive sampling, and data collection and analysis followed Spradley’s (1980) Developmental Research Sequence (DRS). Participant observation, ethnographic interviews, field notes, multimedia tolls, and artifacts were used as primary data collection tools. The findings revealed five main themes or practices in Visayan museums: prioritizing education, fostering empowerment and inclusivity, promoting cultural awareness, promoting environmental awareness, and engaging stakeholders in heritage conservation. The study also identified three main challenges on economic sustainability, physical space, and community awareness. Moreover, four major opportunities were identified, such as community engagement, partnerships and collaborations, cultural and economic development, and institutionalization of policies, which further underscored implications for ASEAN socio-cultural collaboration. Recommendations include enhancing existing initiatives aligned with the SDGs, formalizing SDG-related policies, and facilitating knowledge-sharing platforms.
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    Agile Communication in an International Educational Organization: A Phenomenological Study
    ( 2023) Aguilar, Monalice G.
    Using phenomenology, the researcher explored staff members' experiences in an international educational organization and made sense of the dynamic nature of their communicative practices in an ever-changing work environment. Based on the Husserl and Habermas frameworks, the study provided a comprehensive understanding of communication practices and organizational dynamics in the context of agile communication and the staff’s lifeworld. Through in-depth interviews and employing the Discourse of Understanding grounded on the Phenomenological Tradition of Communication, the researcher made sense of the experiences of selected staff members, resulting in an emergent communication-centric concept of Agile Communication. The inquiry revealed that Agile Communication is flexible, adaptive, and stakeholder-centered, enabling quick response to changing circumstances and delivering value to stakeholders. It is a collaborative, innovative, and iterative process that promotes efficient work environments by working hand-in-hand with the iteration process. Agile communication is direct and transparent, promoting simple, face-to-face interaction that leads to consistent feedback loops. It is embedded in organizational culture and process, allowing for pivot strategies, structures, and processes. Finally, it maintains the quality of work outputs, enabling stakeholders to respond to changes without compromising quality and ensuring the timely delivery of projects. Hence, Agile Communication is a flexible, user-centric, collaborative, and transparent approach that prioritizes organizational quality. It lies in the social interaction and communicative activities of people within the organization, which allow the utilization of appropriate strategies, processes, and tools in managing and responding to change. More importantly, the study revealed that agile communication had become a concept that limits the systems to colonize the staff members' lifeworld.
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    All Kinds of Blue: Exploring the Emotional Effect of Lucy's Blue Album on Selected Filipino Fans' Mental Well-Being
    ( 2024) Bacud, Francelle Joanne C.
    The pandemic has led to increased reports of depression and anxiety worldwide. While research on the emotional and well-being benefits of pop music is gradually increasing and evolving, there remains a gap in understanding the effects of foreign music on an individual's well-being and multimedia experiences. This study specifically analyses the effects of BLUE, an album by the Korean band LUCY, on the mental well-being of their Filipino fanbase. Using a qualitative approach, interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with eleven (11) adult Filipino fans. The data collected were analysed through the frameworks of the Social Cognitive and Behavioral Theory as well as the Reception Theory. The study's findings indicate that the album has a positive effect on the fanbase, providing comfort through its ability to uplift, release, reflect, relax, distract, and excite individuals. This suggests that foreign music, including the dynamics of K-Pop or K-Band fandom culture, can serve as a healthy coping mechanism for mood regulation and enhance positive experiences through multimedia art. The study concludes that BLUE is seen as a valuable tool for mental support within the fandom. It is recommended that future research explore the dependent variables and examine similarities and differences among various audience types.
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    An Assessment of Nurse-Patient Communication in a Tertiary Hospital in the Kingdom of Bahrain
    ( 2018) Rodriguez, Smitha Shalet
    Title: An Assessment of the Nurse-Patient Communication in a Tertiary Hospital in the Kingdom of Bahrain Introduction: An integral part of nursing care is effective communication. It improves the relationship between the nurse and the patient, and it results in better treatment and improved quality of care (Tay, Ang, & Hegney, 2012). Every aspect of communication is influenced by the differences in culture. Cultural competence gives an opportunity for the healthcare professionals to know the different cultural beliefs related to health and to incorporate awareness into diagnosis and treatment planning. Data Collection: The descriptive correlational study was conducted in medical and surgical in-patient units of King Hamad University Hospital, Kingdom of Bahrain in 2018. The questionnaire consists of two parts: a demographic profile and the Self-Administered Communication Survey. The factors affecting nurse patient communication were categorized into Common barriers, Nurse-related barriers, Patient-related barriers and Environmental barriers. A total of 78 nurses and 75 patients took part in the study. Results: The main barriers to the nurse-patient communication from the nurses’ point of view were cultural differences between nurse and patient, differences between the language of the nurse and the patient, nurses’ lack of time and opportunity to communicate well with the patients, patients’ negative attitude towards the nurse, presence of patient’s companion, and presence of a very sick patient in the department. The main barriers to nurse-patient communication from the patient’s perspective were age difference between nurse and patient, interference of the patient’s companions, busy environment of the unit, and inappropriate environmental conditions (lack of proper ventilation, fluctuating temperature, inadequate lighting, unpleasant odor, etc.). Conclusion: Analysis of the factors influencing the communication is the basic step in resolving communications issues between nurses and patients. A good solution to be communication problems cannot be established without taking into consideration both the patients’ and nurses’ views of communication. Understanding and accepting the Islamic values and beliefs are essential in communicating and delivering care for Muslim patients. Development of broader knowledge of Arabic culture is important for all health care professionals who deliver care in the Middle Eastern on Arabic region. Recommendations: The study recommends development of effective nurse-patient communication protocols and policies in the hospital and establishment of Arabic language and communication skills training for nurses.
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    An Assessment of the Implementation of the ASEAN Cosmetic Product Notification Scheme: Focus on the Philippines
    ( 2018) Olivar, Vanessa O
    Cosmetics as a consumer good is gaining an importance in the lifestyles of Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) consumers. The experience of competition in ASEAN cosmetics has given impetus to contribute to the promotion of regional economic integration. The aim of the study is to assess the benefits, outcome and impact of the regulatory scheme agreed by the ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and Quality-Cosmetic Product Working Group (ACCSQ-CPWG). The ASEAN Economic Ministers signed the Agreement on the ASEAN Harmonized Cosmetic Regulatory Scheme (AHCRS) at the 35th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in Cambodia in September 2003. The objective of the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive (ACD) is to provide the framework for the harmonization and mutual recognition of the Standard, Technical Regulation and Conformity Assessment Procedures (STRACAP), to eliminate unnecessary Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). Through a questionnaire survey of key cosmetics industry players in the Philippines, the study generated primary data to analyze the impact of the ACD. The study also collected secondary data and information to support the analysis. The study obtained copies of relevant Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issuances, reports, slide presentations, and visited related websites on cosmetics. Library research was done to collect copies of ASEAN Secretariat Reports and minutes of the ASEAN Cosmetic Committee (ACC) meetings, standard source of industry information such as Euromonitor international. The study was supplemented by emails, non-structured interviews and communications with past and current delegates to ACCSQ-CPWG and/or ACCSQ-ACC. The respondents in the survey confirmed significant milestones and accomplishments, benefits and impact after 10 years of implementing the cosmetic online Product Notification (PN, the e-Notification, by the Philippine FDA and the rest of the ASEAN Member State (AMS) National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs). The study has the following conclusions: a) The ACCSQ-CPWG successfully designed the ACD PN scheme to eliminate TBT. b) ASEAN member countries through their respective NRAs have established online PN systems, which increased efficiency in processing time. The Philippine FDA instituted the most efficient e-Notification system in ASEAN. c) The cosmetic industry sector was instrumental in ensuring ASEAN regulatory harmonization. d) The cosmetic industry significantly benefited in terms of ease of doing business in the region and accessing the international market, advancing globalization. e) Up to this time, cosmetics is one of the most developed and earliest among the successfully regulated industry in ASEAN, showcasing the benefits and advantages of harmonization of standards, procedures and regulatory mechanisms in ASEAN. f) Consumers are the ultimate recipient of the benefits and advantages of the ACD PN System. g) ASEAN harmonization of STRACAP is possible when the public and private sectors cooperate and collaborate to ensure that free trade is sustainable in the region. h) Trade data and trends point towards sustained growth and development of the cosmetic industry sector and the ASEAN market. By ensuring participation of the NRAs, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)-ACCSQ accomplished not only an increase in ASEAN trade in cosmetics, but also established a greater degree of assurance of consumer safety and welfare. The study is recommending key points towards a proposed strategic action plan to further promote and achieve a Single Regulatory Regime for ASEAN on cosmetics. The proposed action plan will further sustain the initial gains during the 10 years of implementing the ACD PN.
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    An Empirical Study Evaluating the Effects of Gamification in an E-learning Environment
    ( 2022) Fojas, April Felicia C.
    The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) is a fully online university that uses open and e-distance learning (ODeL) methods of teaching through the use of a learning management system (LMS) called Moodle, which is considered their virtual classroom. In an ODeL system, students are expected to study independently without meeting with their fellow students and instructors face-to-face. It is said that motivation is the main factor in a student’s learning, especially in a distance learning environment. However, distance learners tend to feel easily demotivated, distracted, and isolated as compared to students in a traditional learning environment (Manlapaz, 2020). This can often lead to lower performance and higher dropout rates. To make distance learners feel more motivated, many institutions have proposed the use of gamification as a way to motivate the students to be more engaged in class and improve their grade performance. In this study, the researcher aims to assess the effects of gamification on undergraduate UPOU students and to see if gamification is a factor that helps improve student performance. The results show that gamification has several positive effects on students in UPOU. There is also a significant difference between the performance and engagement of students in a gamified course compared to a non-gamified course.
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    An Ode to Unheralded Heroism: The Volunteer Nurses’ Experiences in the Aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan
    ( 2016) Ballecer, Jasper Joseph C.
    Disaster events are extraordinary healthcare practice settings. Healthcare provision in these scenarios require extensive competencies and adaptability from healthcare workers. Involvement in these efforts have increased, as supranational initiatives in disaster response has caused the influx of volunteer disaster healthcare workers. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of volunteer disaster nurses in the aftermath of typhoon Haiyan using Colaizzi's (1978) Model to gain an understanding on the experience. Nine volunteer nurses who served immediately after the typhoon hit the central Philippines in late 2013. with each representing specific fields of specialty within nursing practice, were selected purposively as participants. The study's findings yielded five themes: Motivation, Realities of the Volunteer Disaster Nurse Experience, Coping while Caring, Leaving a Mark, and A Journey towards Self-discovery. Motivation was the source of the decision to help. It was also the driving force for volunteers to go through the obstacles and cope effectively. Once this has been successfully achieved, the nurses gained learnings and reflections both as human beings and as health professionals which in turn, renewed their altruism. These findings can be used by healthcare workers. educators, and health policy-makers on the practical side to promote the well-being of disaster healthcare workers by being more cognizant to their problems, challenges, and motivations. The study's findings can also be a jumping point for more in-depth inquiries and/or investigations in other disaster settings.
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    Analysis of Gender Portrayal in UP Open University Social Media Sites
    ( 2018) Serrano, Joane ; Petrasanta, Lovelyn ; Cañas-Llamas, Anna
    The UP Open University (UPOU) social media sites with about 40,000 followers accross its social media pages is assumed to have a significant role in disseminating information and knowledge for most of its learners both local and offshore. According to The Statistics Portal (statista.com), the number of social media users around the globe is estimated to increase from 2.46 billion in 2017 to 2.77 billion in 2019. Three (3) of four (4) internet users use social media, with women (76%) using social networking sites more than men (72%). This study aims to examine the portrayal and representation of women and men in the graphics and videos posted across UPOU social media sites: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This study will make use of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as its theoretical and analytic framework. The study will make use of the Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media (GSIM) by UNESCO (2012) as the analytical tool in analyzing gender portrayal and representation in UPOU social media posts.