• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.123-131
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• 2015

During several visits to the Cebu City landfill in the Philippines, plants were observed growing within the area, including on top of the garbage piles. Studying the response of these plants is important in assessing which can be used in remediating metal contaminated soils. This study aimed to determine whether the plants in the Cebu City landfill excluded or accumulated cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr) in the plant tissues. The floristic composition of the landfill was analyzed prior to the sample collection. The samples were acid-digested before the desired elements were measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). The Cd and Cr concentrations in the plant root-zone soil were also measured using AAS. The results indicated that the landfill substrate was generally acidic based on the results of the pH measurement. Of the 32 plant species sampled, Cyperus odoratus showed potential for Cd uptake and internal transfer; Cenchrus echinatus, Vernonia cinerea and Terminalia catappa for Cr uptake, and Cynodon dactylon for Cr internal transfer. The plants in the landfill differed in their response towards the heavy metals. To confirm the behavior of C. odoratus towards Cd, and C. echinatus, C. dactylon, V. cinerea, and T. catappa towards Cr, controlled experiments are recommended, as the plant samples analyzed were collected from the field.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.84-103
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• 2018

This paper is built upon an attempt to answer the question: "What can be done to facilitate social integration between the elderly of Bagac, Bataan and the communication students of St. Paul University Manila?" The research was designed as a qualitative inquiry that involved an outreach activity by 24 dominantly female students of Development Communication to the senior citizens of Bagac, Bataan (Philippines) and a reflection period involving the students. The students were tasked to pay special attention to the digital engagements and/or disengagements of the elderly to allow them to learn more about the difficulties and potential of using social media in development-related projects involving senior citizens. The actual two-hour encounter involved socialization between the elderly and the students. The students, prior to the encounter, were tasked to generate the funds, use them to acquire and prepare the gifts, develop the program during the actual encounter based on research-based guidelines, and photo document the entire activity. They were given guide questions for reflections a week after. The reflections were thematically analyzed and revealed that in order to facilitate greater social integration between the elderly and the communication students. The university should address the health and digital aversion issues that intensify the sense of isolation of the elderly experience daily. This can be done by enhancing the communication skills of the communication students in 16 areas.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.11
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• pp.595-606
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• 2020

This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework for evaluating the impact of factors influencing the decision of Vietnamese students to study English in the Philippines. The empirical analysis used data from the survey data of 318 respondents living in Vietnam. Comprehensive, valid, and reliable tools (SPSS 26 software) are used to analyze and verify the gathered data, and the hypotheses developed. The results identified the factors that affect the decision of Vietnamese students to study English in the Philippines include knowledge and awareness, personality recommendation, cost issues, environment, geographic proximity, and social link. Based on the overall findings of this study, several implications are presented for educational practices in academies and schools about English teaching in the Philippines. To increase the ability to get students to study English in the country, it is important that schools or academies must understand the demands of students regarding the academic environment, and in particular, to know what factors determine the decision from the customers' point of view. This study contributes significantly to the understanding of agencies and educational managers about the student's choice behavior in the context of the need to improve foreign languages and, thus, help improve the competitiveness of agencies and English schools.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.31-38
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• 2021

This study contributes to the existing literature and tries to analyze the validity of the Fisher hypothesis in the Philippines. Using monthly data from January 1995 to December 2020, the empirical analysis used the Engle-Granger and Johansen cointegration testing technique. The correlation coefficient suggests a strong positive association. All things being equal, a rise in inflation leads to a rise in the nominal interest rate. The unit-root tests show that inflation and the nominal interest rate are both stationary. Based on both Engle-Granger and cointegrating regression Durbin-Watson tests, the nominal interest rate and inflation are cointegrated. Likewise, the results from Johansen cointegration indicate that there exists a long-run relationship between the variables. However, we rejected a one-to-one relationship between nominal interest rate and inflation. The error correction term coefficient (ECM) shows that it is statistically significant suggesting that the nominal interest rate adjusts to the inflation rate with a lag. The Pair-wise Granger Causality test reported a bi-directional causal relationship between nominal interest rate and inflation. Inflation targeting has been the monetary policy framework of choice for most central banks. In essence, the conclusions of this study are useful to central banks because they help them better comprehend the long-run equilibrium relationship between the nominal interest rate and inflation.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2020

The paper examines the dynamic relationship of domestic credit and stock market liquidity on the economic growth of the Philippines from 1995 to 2018 applying the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration, together with Granger causality test based on vector error correction model (VECM). The ARDL model indicated a long-run relationship of domestic credit and stock market liquidity on GDP growth. When the GDP per capita is the dependent variable there is weak cointegration. Also, the Johansen cointegration test confirmed the existence of long-run relationship of domestic credit and stock market liquidity both on GDP growth and GDP per capita. The VECM concludes a long-run causality running from domestic credit and stock market liquidity to GDP growth. At levels, domestic credit has significant short-run causal relationship with GDP growth. As for stock market liquidity at first lag, has significant short-run causal relationship with GDP growth. With regards to VECM for GDP per capita, domestic credit and stock market liquidity indicates no significant dynamic adjustment to a new equilibrium if a disturbance occurs in the whole system. At levels, the results indicated the presence of short-run causality from stock market liquidity and GDP per capita. The CUSUMSQ plot complements the findings of the CUSUM plot that the estimated models for GDP growth and GDP per capita were stable.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2018

Laguna Lake is the largest inland fresh water body in the Philippines. It primarily serves as a site for aquaculture, hydropower, transportation, and water supply industries. Due to Laguna Lake's diverse functionalities, competition among water users became prominent. Water quality began to deteriorate due to various pollutant contributions in this process, thereby affecting the soundness of the aquatic ecosystem. This study was conducted to evaluate the current water quality management policy from the viewpoint of ecological environment through the evaluation of the water quality of Laguna Lake. Concentrations of water pollutants such as ammonia ($NH_3$), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chloride ($Cl^-$), pH, and total suspended solids (TSS) exceeded the water quality standards of the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The water quality of the lake was also affected by the pollutant load due to agriculture and urban stormwater runoff in the watershed. The salinity and contaminated water from Pasig River also affected the water quality of Laguna Lake. Long-term water quality analysis showed that the water quality of Laguna Lake is also influenced by rainfall-related seasonal variations. The results of the water quality analysis of Laguna Lake indicated that the environmental management techniques of the Philippines should be changed from the conventional water management into an integrated watershed management scheme in the future. It is therefore necessary to study and introduce advanced watershed management measures in the Philippines based from the policies of other developed countries.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.101-133
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• 2010

Nowaday our school education have been undergone decisive influences by the entrance and examination-oriented education system. To enter universities which belong to top classes in Korean society could be look upon the important success of school education, and it could be equaled to the quality of competent teacher(teacher's professionalism). However, the creativity and knowledge composition ability in the school education will be considered seriously in the coming of 21st century knowledge, information-oriented and globalization society. In this situation, we try to trace about the system and style of foreign school education which is unfamiliar to us, spontaneously we should explore the educational implication which affects to our school education. In this paper, we have reviewed about the present condition and the current situation of Philippines school education(San Beda College Alabang and Rizal Campus). Of course, we tried to observe the practical education activities including a curriculum, teacher, teaching and studying method and student activity. Through this trial, we tried to suggest the effective environment and methodology for the improvement in quality of our school education. Philippines school education 1) could be achieved educational ideas and goals based on the spirit of school establishment, 2) could be gained teacher's professionalism through the system of Coordinator and Prefect, 3) could be conducted learner-centered lessons by the learning method of exploration, discussion, task-resolving, 4) was able to created a pleasant school education through the development and application of a variety of educational programs.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.12
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• pp.169-181
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• 2021

The study aims to investigate the direct effects of business management practices in terms of financial, marketing, human resources, and logistics operations practices on sales revenue and profitability growth of freight forwarding businesses. A quantitative research design and partial least square-structural equation modeling were used to examine the direct effects of the exogenous and endogenous variables. The study reveals that financial, marketing, and human resources practices have a positive and significant effect on sales revenue growth. Furthermore, marketing and logistics operations have a positive and significant effect on profitability growth in the context of freight forwarding in the Philippines, particularly in its country's capital. As the current study only examines the direct effects of business management practices, other researchers may also want to consider identifying other variables as mediation and moderation to test other indirect effects on the financial performance of the business. The findings of the study can significantly benefit the freight industry to consider addressing other challenges or make use of the paper to further develop their strategies and practices to improve their financial performance.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.348-356
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• 2023

Objectives: We investigated trends in the incidence rate of macrosomia and its association with parental nationalities using Vital Statistics data in Japan. Methods: We used singleton birth data every 5 years from 1995 to 2020. The incidence rate of macrosomia was calculated according to specific attributes (maternal age, infant's sex, parental nationalities, parity, and household occupation) over time (years). In addition, a log-binomial model was used to investigate the relationship between the incidence of macrosomia and the attributes. This study compared Korea, China, the Philippines, Brazil, and other countries with Japan in terms of parental nationalities. "Other countries" indicates countries except for Japan, Korea, China, the Philippines, and Brazil. Results: The study included 6 180 787 births. The rate of macrosomia in Japan decreased from 1.43% in 1995 to 0.88% in 2020, and the decrease was observed across all parental nationalities. The rates for Japanese parents were the lowest values among parental nationalities during the timespan investigated. Multivariate regression analysis showed that mothers from Korea, China, the Philippines, Brazil, and other countries had a significantly higher risk of macrosomia than those from Japan (risk ratio, 1.91, 2.82, 1.59, 1.74, and 1.64, respectively). Furthermore, fathers from China, the Philippines, Brazil, and other countries had a significantly higher risk of macrosomia than those from Japan (risk ratio, 1.66, 1.38, 1.88, and 3.02, respectively). Conclusions: The rate of macrosomia decreased from 1995 to 2020 in Japan for parents of all nationalities, and the risk of macrosomia incidence was associated with parental nationality.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.12
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• pp.115-121
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• 2020

This study aims to investigate the effects of restrictions in economic activity on the spread of COVID-19 in the Philippines. This research employs daily time-series data of confirmed new COVID-19 cases, Apple mobility trends (i.e., use of public transport to destinations, volume of people driving, and amount of walking to destinations) and Google community mobility (i.e., visits to transit stations, visits to workplaces, and staying-at-home) indicators covering the period February 17 to September 11, 2020. The analysis starts by establishing the correlation pattern of new confirmed COVID-19 daily infections to each independent variable. The results show negative linear correlation of the number of new COVID-19 daily infections with less visit to transit station, increase stay-at-home, less use of public transport, and less amount of walking to destinations. Interestingly, the number of new COVID-19 daily infections indicates some form of positive linear correlation with visits to workplaces and volume of people driving. Moreover, employing robust least square regression via the method of MM-estimation, major findings reveal that across mobility measures, staying-at-home has the highest impact on reducing the spread of COVID-19, followed by visiting transit stations less, less use of public transport, less amount of walking, and less workplace visits.