Pinoy dengue case predictor mapping system wins the 2019 NASA global hackathon

Upper row Associate American Corner librarian Donna Lyn G. Labangon, Space Apps global leader Dr. Paula S. Bontempi, former DICT Usec. Monchito B. Ibrahim, Animo Labs executive director Mr. Federico C. Gonzalez, DOST-PCIEERD deputy executive director Engr. Raul C. Sabularse, PLDT Enterprise Core Business Solutions vice president and head Joseph Ian G. Gendrano, lead organizer Michael Lance M. Domagas, and Animo Labs program manager Junnell E. Guia. Lower row Dominic Vincent D. Ligot, Frances Claire Tayco, Mark Toledo, and Jansen Dumaliang Lopez of Aedes project.

A dengue case forecasting system using space data made by Pinoy developers won the 2019 National Aeronautics and Space Administration's International Space Apps Challenge. Over 29,000 participating globally in 71 countries, this Pinoy solution made it as one of the six winners in the best use of data, the solution that best makes space data accessible, or leverages it to a unique application.

Dengue fever is a viral, infectious tropical disease spread primarily by Aedes aegypti female mosquitoes. With 271,480 cases resulting in 1,107 deaths reported from January 1 to August 31, 2019 by the World Health Organization, Dominic Vincent D. Ligot, Mark Toledo, Frances Claire Tayco, and Jansen Dumaliang Lopez from CirroLytix developed a forecasting model of dengue cases using climate and digital data, and pinpointing possible hotspots from satellite data.

Sentinel-2 Copernicus and Landsat 8 satellite data used to reveal potential dengue hotspots

Correlating information from Sentinel-2 Copernicus and Landsat 8 satellites, climate data from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PAGASA) and trends from Google search engines, potential dengue hotspots will be shown in a web interface.

Using satellite spectral bands like green, red, and near-infrared (NIR), indices like Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) are calculated in identifying areas with green vegetation while Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) identifies areas with water. Combining these indices reveal potential areas of stagnant water capable of being breeding grounds for mosquitoes, extracted as coordinates through a free and open-source cross-platform desktop geographic information system QGIS.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzpI775XoY0


Check out the website here: http://aedesproject.org/

Winners visit the Philippine Earth Data Resource and Observation (PEDRO) Center at the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute in Diliman, Quezon City with Dr. Joel Joseph S. Marciano, Jr.

"AEDES aims to improve public health response against dengue fever in the Philippines by pinpointing possible hotspots using Earth observations," Dr. Argyro Kavvada of NASA Earth Science and Booz Allen Hamilton explained.

The DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) deputy executive director Engr. Raul C. Sabularse said that the winning solution "benefits the community especially those countries suffering from malaria and dengue, just like the Philippines. I think it has a global impact. This is the new science to know the potential areas where dengue might occur. It is a good app."

"It is very relevant to the Philippines and other countries which usually having problems with dengue. The team was able to show that it's not really difficult to have all the data you need and integrate all of them and make them accessible to everyone for them to be able to use it. It's a working model," according to Monchito B. Ibrahim, industry development committee chairman of the Analytics Association of the Philippines and former undersecretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Biological oceanographer Dr. Paula S. Bontempi, acting deputy director of the Earth Science Mission, NASA's Science Mission Directorate and the current leader of the Space Apps global organizing team

The leader of the Space Apps global organizing team Dr. Paula S. Bontempi, acting deputy director of the Earth Science Mission, NASA's Science Mission Directorate remembers the pitch of the winning team when she led the hackathon in Manila. "They were terrific. Well deserved!" she said.

"I am very happy we landed in the winning circle. This would be a big help particularly in addressing our health-related problems. One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is on Good Health and Well Being and the problem they are trying to address is analysis related to dengue," said Science and Technology secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña. Rex Lor from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Philippines explained that the winning solution showcases the "pivotal role of cutting-edge digital technologies in the creation of strategies for sustainable development in the face of evolving development issues."

U.S Public Affairs counselor Philip W. Roskamp and PLDT Enterprise Core Business Solutions vice president and head Joseph Ian G. Gendrano congratulates the next group of Pinoy winners.

Sec. de la Peña is also very happy on this second time victory for the Philippines on the global competition of NASA. The first winning solution ISDApp uses "data analysis, particularly NASA data, to be able to help our fishermen make decisions on when is the best time to catch fish." It is currently being incubated by Animo Labs, the technology business incubator and Fab Lab of De La Salle University in partnership with DOST-PCIEERD. Project AEDES will be incubated by Animo Labs too.

Winners shall be invited to visit the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Florida in the following months.

University president Br. Raymundo B. Suplido FSC hopes that NASA Space Apps would "encourage our young Filipino researchers and scientists to create ideas and startups based on space science and technology, and pave the way for the promotion and awareness of the programs of our own Philippine space agency."

Vice President Leni Robredo recognized Space Apps as a platform "where some of our country's brightest minds can collaborate in finding and creating solutions to our most pressing problems, not just in space, but more importantly here on Earth."

"Space Apps is a community of scientists and engineers, artists and hackers coming together to address key issues here on Earth. At the heart of Space Apps are data that come to us from spacecraft flying around Earth and are looking at our world," explained by Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science.

"Personally, I'm more interested in supporting the startups that are coming out of the Space Apps Challenge," according to DOST-PCIEERD executive director Dr. Enrico C. Paringit.

In the Philippines, Space Apps is a NASA-led initiative organized in collaboration with De La Salle University, Animo Labs, DOST-PCIEERD, PLDT InnoLab, American Corner Manila, U.S. Embassy, software developer Michael Lance M. Domagas, and celebrates the Design Week Philippines with the Design Center of the Philippines of the Department of Trade and Industry. It is globally organized by Booz Allen Hamilton, Mindgrub, and SecondMuse.

Space Apps is a NASA incubator innovation program. The next hackathon will be on October 2-4, 2020.


#SpaceApps #SpaceAppsPH



Pinoy developers gather together to address real-world problems on Earth and space using NASA's free and open source data.

What Is the Future of Ecommerce in 2020?

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Since the time the concept of online shopping first came out, the e-commerce industry is booming at the fastest pace. As per Statista’ report, in 2019, around 2.05 billion people made an online purchase. The data clearly shows that the industry is not going to slow down in the near future.

Since every merchant is entering the growing e-commerce industry, the competition has increased a lot. To stay ahead in the game, you need to be aware of the ways to keep your products/services in front of the eyes of the customers.

One of the best ways to do that is by keeping yourself updated with the latest e-commerce trends. Although there is always a certain amount of risk involved in trying a new trend, that doesn’t mean you should stop experimenting with new things. After all, business is all about taking calculated risks. If you do not take risks, you will not be able to grow your business. When it comes to experimenting with trends, it’s crucial to make sure that whatever changes you make, you always make it for the betterment of your customers.

In this blog, we will discuss some significant trends, some of which are currently ruling, and some are expected to rule the e-commerce industry in the near future. Let’s take a look!

Native Social-Selling:

In 2017, Hubspot ran an experiment to check if the Facebook audience prefers native content or non-native content. And guess what the results were! They found that their Facebook audience preferred native video content 160X more than the non-native video content. The same preference is true with e-commerce. Nowadays, there are a lot of visual platforms that are being used by millions of people. Why not give them the option to shop within these platforms. A great example of native-social selling is Instagram. You must have seen ‘shoppable posts' in your daily feeds. This feature allows users to shop while remaining on the same platform. Currently, there are only a few brands that are following this trend, but by the end of 2020, we will see more brands moving in this direction.

Voice Searching:

Voice search has already shown its capabilities. From Amazon to Google, every tech mammoth aims to attract customers with their voice assistants and voice-based search solutions. Soon, this trend will continue to rule the e-commerce industry. According to the latest statistics, by 2022, voice shopping is expected to grow to 40 billion. A lot of e-commerce companies have started integrating the voice-search feature in their apps and website. If you want to integrate this feature in your business, here are a few tips:

In a voice search, people don’t speak the way they type keywords in text-based search. For example, where is an Italian restaurant near me? (voice search), an Italian restaurant near me (text search).Therefore, you need to optimize your website for questions that people generally used to ask.

Optimize your website for long-tail keywords

Make sure you appear locally as well as on Google as voice search is 3x times more likely to be local due to instant shopping needs.

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR):

Although AR and VR are not a new concept, they are two of the biggest technologies that are going to rule in 2020 and beyond. VR technology gives customers a more realistic experience. When a customer puts a VR gadget on their face, it makes them feel like they are shopping by standing in the physical store. AR, on the other hand, lets customers see the product video with some added virtual elements. Both technologies enhance the customer’s visualization of the product. And product visualization boosts sales and reduces returns. According to Deloitte, 90% of the companies with yearly sales of $100 million to $1 billion are taking advantage of AR or VR technology.

Product Customization:

Nowadays, customers want to add their imagination to the products they wish to buy. From clothing, jewelry to furniture, they want to design their products according to their personal requirement. This rising demand has motivated companies like PrintShop by Designhill to come up with a platform where customers can design everything – from phone cases, clothing to home & living. Product customization enhances the user experience, builds customer loyalty and helps in getting more sales.

Same-Day Delivery:

It is another trend that is going to rule in the e-commerce industry. Although it is a challenging service, in today’s fast-paced environment and with several options, consumers don’t have the patience to wait. They want their orders to be delivered as soon as possible. In fact, 61% of shoppers are ready to pay extra for same-day delivery service. By considering this behavior pattern, companies have started opting for ‘same-day delivery’ by using the latest technology.

New Payment Options:

When it comes to online shopping, the modes of payments can have a huge impact on customers’ buying decisions. No matter how great your product is and how well you have done the branding of your business, if your customers are not comfortable with the payment options, then they will not buy anything from your website. Although many new methods like Amazon Pay, PayPal, Google Pay, etc. have taken full control, in 2020 and coming years ‘cryptocurrency’ is going to trend in e-commerce platforms.

Visual Search:

Just imagine that you are in a store and see a beautiful couch. But because of the price, you may not feel like buying it from the store. So, you take a picture and use eBay’s image search feature to find the same product on their website at a better deal. Companies, nowadays, have started giving an option of visual search, where customers can upload the picture of the product from their photo gallery and search it on their websites. Since this trend allows customers to buy a product at the best price, therefore it drives them to shop online even if they are standing at the physical store.

Conclusion:

So, folks, these are the trends that are redefining the online shopping experience. If you want to grow your e-commerce business into something big then it’s time to start implementing them at the earliest. 

Good Luck!


Author Bio

Anne Carton is a small business consultant, designer and an enthusiast blogger working with PrintShop by Designhill owned by Designhill, is a creative print-on-demand marketplace where you can discover & buy 50+ unique products, gifts & artwork created by artists around the world.

World’s Gambling Capital Now Off Limits To Filipinos

Wazzup Pilipinas!

As restrictions around the world continue to intensify in the face of the ongoing threat from the CORVID-19 coronavirus, citizens both at home in the Philippines and further afield are facing the prospect of having to cancel their travel plans. Long-planned vacations are being put on hold, work-trips are postponed, and all-but essential flights are now expressly discouraged. For anyone who was considering taking a trip to Macau, the gambling capital of the world, we have bad news. Not only are all flights to the gambling mecca now banned, but anyone who’s already out there is being brought home.

Macau's rise to its current position as the world's premier gambling location is a somewhat unlikely one - especially given the fact that it's technically part of China, and China strictly prohibits all gambling. One theory behind its success is that unlike Las Vegas in America, it hasn't been affected by the growth of online slots websites. Across the bulk of the United States mainland, it's legal to play Fluffy Favourites UK from the comfort of your own home, and so a trip to Vegas is no longer necessary to experience a gambling thrill. By contrast, the countries around Macau tend to restrict access to online slots, with some making the activity completely illegal. Even here in the Philippines, where online slots are legal, we've seen the Government take a harder line on the activity within the past twelve months. With no other means of indulging in their hobby, gamblers from all over the region head to Macau for their fun.

Unfortunately for the gambling companies of Macau and the workers there whose livelihoods depend on it, Macau may not be welcoming visitors for the foreseeable future. Most predictions say that the coronavirus has not yet peaked in terms of contagion and spread, and won't do so until the early summer. That's likely to make conditions in Macau even harder than they were in February, where profits fell 90% in a single month, and the city effectively closed itself down voluntarily in an attempt to prevent the virus from making its way there. Since then, some of the casinos in the city have opened themselves up again to locals, but foreign visitors are hard to find on the streets. The coronavirus will eventually pass, but the question of whether Macau can survive long enough to still be there when the all-clear arrives is hard to answer. At least some of the casinos there will be unable to pay their staff this month, and will likely be closed permanently by May or June.

The Filipinos that the Government has chosen to repatriate from Macau are believed to have been employed within the casino industry there. Some of them have already been placed on permanent leave as their casinos are temporarily closed, and can probably expect that their jobs won't be waiting there for them if and when they're allowed to return to Macau. A specially-chartered flight was arranged for 148 Filipino citizens on Tuesday March 3rd, and more are expected to follow. A full record of every Filipino native living in Macau doesn't exist, but based on the available information it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that at least 35,000 Filipino nationals live within the city. Travel between Macau and the Philippines had previously been banned by the Filipino Government in January, so some of those now boarding flights will effectively have been trapped in their host city and waiting to come home for almost two whole months without money. Those who are now coming home are understood to have either student or working visas. Many of the Filipino workers in the city are thought to be undocumented or working illegally. Their fate remains unknown.

Macau isn't the only nearby city or state full of Filipino workers looking to return home. Many care workers in Hong Kong are Filipino by birth, and they've also recently been told that their services are no longer required as people in Hong Kong try to guard against the threat of the virus. Like the situation in Macau, many of those workers have been trapped by a travel ban between Hong Kong and the Philippines, and have been struggling to survive without permanent accommodation or an income. The Government has said that getting the worst-affected of these citizens home is being treated as a priority and that a chartered flight will be sent to Hong Kong to collect them in the very near future.

So far, it isn't clear what restrictions might be placed on the movements of those returning home. There have been recorded cases of COVID-19 in both Hong Kong and Macau, and so as with travelers coming from any affected area, there is a risk of infection. It may be that everyone on board the flights is quarantined upon landing in the Philippines and will only be allowed to move once the risk of transmission or infection has passed. It could also be that the citizens are being tested in Macau and Hong Kong before being allowed to board their flights home. In either eventuality, the Government has assured citizens that every possible effort is being made to ensure that the virus doesn't come to the Philippines with the flights.

So far, the extent of the spread of COVID-19 within the Philippines has been minimal, with less than ten recorded cases at the time of writing. That figure is expected to go up, though, and any flight activity to or from countries where infections are more common increases the risk of a significant outbreak. The more Filipinos attempt to return home from abroad, the greater the risk becomes. As an example, more than four hundred of the crew aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Japan are Filipinos. All of them are understood to have returned to the country and are currently subject to quarantine. The latest reports suggest that none of them have yet shown any signs of carrying the virus.

As always, the situation with the coronavirus is fluid and fast-changing. All information provided within this article was correct at the time of writing, but pay attention to live news feeds and television broadcasts for the latest updates on the fight against the illness. Citizens are reminded to wash their hands, avoid physical contact with strangers wherever possible, and avoid travel across long distances unless absolutely necessary.