Stiffer 3rd World Research Festival reveals... UIC Research Reigns Supreme
by : Mary Jane G. Barluado
In recognition of research achievements in terms of dissemination of scientific information and best practices in research and publication, the prestigious World Research Productivity Award was conferred for the third consecutive time to the University of the Immaculate Conception (UIC) during the 3rdWorld Research Festival (WRF) held in Radisson Blu Hotel, Cebu City, May 1 – 3, 2014.
The award was received by UIC Research Director Dr. Renan Limjuco, who was also chosen from over 100 participants to be one of only two World Publication Productivity Awardees. More, together with two others, he bagged the event’s most elusive and distinguished individual award– the Outstanding World Researcher Award 2014, establishing him and his many research publications as internationally prominent.
As a team, the UIC WRF 2014 delegation earned the first Institutional World Artistic Award 2014 for their gala dance performance of Rigodon Royale during the affair’s cultural show, which in previous years used to be dominated by invited cultural dance groups. The UIC team was composed of 10 faculty researchers with new studies worthy of publication in various disciplinal IAMURE journals indexed by international agencies like ISI, Thomson Reuters, Philippine E-journals, Google Scholar etc.
Lead by Dr. Limjuco, the pack included Prof. Kristine Mae M Adlaon, Dr. Teresita Q Adriano, Prof. Mary Jane G Barluado, Prof. Teodoro S Caballero, Prof. Donnabelle A Castro, Prof. Marx P Catalan, Dr. Virgion H Mamonong, Prof. Armando B Parantar, and Prof. Ma. Juliet G Vasay, who presented their papers in different concurrent sessions and together garnered a total of 23 awards, including 6 Best Oral Presenter, 7 Best in PowerPoint Presentation, 5 Best Dressed/Personality, and 5 Best in Talent Awards.
Stiffer Competition
Organized by the International Association of Multidisciplinary Research (IAMURE), WRF 2014 was oozing the unique IAMURE conference spirits: glam, talent and intellect as depicted by the four concurrent session awards at stake: Best in Oral Presentation, Best in PowerPoint Presentation, Best Dressed/Personality, and Best in Talent (2-4 minute talent presentation is required either in the beginning or at the end of paper presentation). But this year is more competitive…
WRF Then. There were 3 presenters in 1 set; 4 sets in 1 room or venue of concurrent session; and the 4 mentioned awards at stake. The competition was by set and there were 3 ranks per award: DIAMOND for first, PLATINUM for second, and GOLD for third. Therefore, all presenters in a set would at the end get all 4 awards and would differ only in the awards’ rank. Hence each participant in a room would go home with 4 concurrent session awards.
WRF Now. Only the Best in Oral Presentation was competed by set, and only 1 Best Oral Presenter was declared, i.e., no platinum and gold. The competitions for Best in PowerPoint Presentation and Best in Talent were by room and not by set, but 3 winners were declared: diamond, platinum and gold. And the stiffest was the competition for Best Dressed/Personality since only 1 winner for male category and 1 winner for female category per room would be declared. Hence, that a participant would go home not bringing any concurrent session award was a very likely possibility. But this was not the case for any of the UIC delegate.
The Combat Zones
Four concurrent sessions per day were held in four different rooms: San Martin I, San Martin II, San Martin III and San Cristobal. One room has three sets. And like a triangulated study using multi-sampling design, the UIC delegates were distributed to different days, rooms and sets both randomly and purposively! It was both a game of thrones and chances!
Day 1
Day 1 saw three UICians in combat.
ITE faculty Prof. Kristine Mae Adlaon and LA faculty Prof. Ma. Juliet Vasay battled against their respective sets in San Cristobal room. Prof. Adlaon with her study titled CODEGROUNDS: An Interactive Computer Programming Tutorial Facebook Application contended with fellow ICT experts Prof. Romel Cristobal (Isabela State University) and Prof. Jose Rabbi Malaga (Carlos Hilado Memorial State College) with studies titled Color Television Receiver Trainer and ICT Status of an Elementary School: Reflections of Digital Divide, respectively. In the end, Prof. Adlaon’s study was commended by judges as truly inventive and creative. She won her set’s Best Oral Presenter and the room’s platinum for Best PowerPoint Presentation.
In the same room, Prof. Ma. Juliet Vasay with her study Speech Acts in Kris Aquino’s Tweets: A Content Analysis competed against Prof. Chile Villadarez (Jose Rizal Memorial State University - Zamboanga) and Dr. Julius Nunez (Philippine Normal University - Agusan) with their studies English Proficiency among College students using Language Learning Software to Enhance their Productive Skills and Status of Manobo Language in Katipunan, Bayugan, respectively. Prof. Vasay prevailed as her set’s Best Oral Presenter and the room’s platinum winner of the Best in Talent Award.
In San Martin III room, LA faculty Dr. Virgion Mamonong awed the audience with a complex dance medley as his talent presentation, which earned him the gold for the Best in Talent Award. His paper titled Genderlect in the Academic Milieu in appreciation of the Opposite Sex was pitted against the studies of Dr. Renee Cajetas Saranza (Phil. Normal University-Agusan) and Prof. Trexie Alawi (Surigao del Sur State University) titled Morphophonemic Variations among Kinamayo Dialects and The Interlanguage of SDSSU Students: A Discourse Competence Analysis, respectively.
Day 2
This day was undoubtedly the peak of combat for the UIC team as most of them took on actions!
For starters in San Martin I room, L.A. faculty Prof. Teodoro Caballero stunned the audience with his authentically skimpy tribal garbs while performing a lively Ifugao dance as his talent. This earned him platinum for the Best in Talent Award. His study titled Effectiveness of Documentary Film as Teaching Material was pitted against the studies of Prof. Crisanto Deguito (Holy Name University) and Prof. Ronora Malaga (Carlos Hilado Memorial State College) titled Science Program of Colleges and Universities in Bohol: Retrospects Prospects and Extent of Use and Acceptability of Vernacular as Medium of Instruction, respectively.
In San Martin II room, another L.A. faculty Prof. Donnabelle Castro with her study Personal Variables as Determinants for Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in Response to Calamities contended against three others in her set: Prof. Jingle Luna (Surigao del Sur State University), Prof. Rommel Rivera (Don Honorio Ventura technological State University), and Prof. Judy Rita Bacalso (Iligan Capitol College) with their studies titled Gender and Development Mainstreaming among Local Government Units of Surigao del Sur, Capturing the Aeta Tribal Dances in Pampanga: A Creative Dance Piece, and Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Face Shape Variation among Maranao Students from Iligan City, respectively. Prof. Castro won platinum in PowerPoint Presentation and was chosen the Best Dressed/Personality (Female Category) in her room.
MLS faculty Prof. Marx Catalan conquered the San Cristobal room with his study titled Viability of Pineapple as a Laboratory Anticoagulant and Substitute for EDTA. He battled against Prof. Arlene Ebalde (Carlos Hilado Memoria State College) and Prof. Nemesio Davalos (Mindanao State College of Agriculture and Technology) with their studies Assessment of the Riparian Vertebrate Wildlife of the Ilog-Hilabangan River System and Analyses of the Feeding Value of the Different Re-growths of Tiger Grass as Roughage for Ruminants, respectively, and emerged his set’s Best Oral Presenter and the room’s diamond winner for Best in PowerPoint Presentation and Best in Talent Awards.
Interestingly, the deployment of Dr. Limjuco and Prof. Barluado in Day 2 San Martin III transformed the room into a major war zone, heightened by the appointed room judges – the most critical and rectifying Dr. Veneracion Cabana, Dr. Adrian Tamayo and Dr. Fabian Pontiveros Jr.
With her study titled The Hardy-Weinberg Principle in the Transmission of Thalassemia and Selected Phenotypic Traits for Three Generations in Random-mating Populations, Pharmacy faculty Prof. Mary Jane Barluado was matched against the University of the Philippines-Manila Pharmacy Chair Dr. Judilynn Solidum and Surigao del Sur State Univeristy Prof. Roxan Eupena with their studies Safety of Children from Lead in Kids’ Materials and Nutraceutical and Phytochemical Composition of Dioscorea sp. as Influenced by Indigenous Processing Practices, respectively. Immensely enjoying the show, Dr. Limjuco observed it was neck and neck between Dr. Solidum and Prof. Barluado with the latter having just inched ahead in establishing audience connection and holding their interest, but pointed it may be a political game of position and research record. In the end, Dr. Solidum was named the Best Oral Presenter of the set but Prof. Barluado was the only presenter in the room commended by veteran scientist and judge Dr. Cabana for embarking into such a hard and novel study. She also emerged the Best Dressed/Personality winner for female category and gold winner of the Best in PowerPoint Presentation Award.
Day 2 was wrapped with Dr. Limjuco annihilating all adversaries to his goal of a grand slam win. With his study titled Effectiveness of Video Lecture Materials as Instructional Tool for Statistics Class, he was pitted against Dr. Patosa Florabelle (Samar State University) and Dr. Merricris Uson (Bulacan State University) with their studies Exploring Competencies of Statistics Instructors: Implications for the Future and Intrinsic Motivational Factors Affecting the Performance of Engineering Graduates in the Mathematics Component of the Licensure Exam, respectively. He won his set’s Best Oral Presenter and all three diamonds for the room’s Best in Talent, Best in PowerPoint Presentation and Best Dressed/Personality (Male Category) Awards.
Day 3
Day 3 was another day for Dr. Limjuco who presented his second paper titled Structural Equation Modelling of Reality TV Shows in the Philippines against Dr. Adrian Tamayo (University of Mindanao) and Dr. Apolinar Paulican (Mountain View College) whose studies are Testing for Cointegration between Philippine Crime Volume and Inflation Rates and Applicability of Central Limit Theorem on Machine Generated Random Variables for Regression Model, respectively. An aggressive self-proclaimed divergent, Dr. Limjuco again hoarded the Best Oral Presenter Award and all three diamonds for Talent, PowerPoint and Personality.
In a more peaceful room of San Cristobal, Language Coordinator Dr. Teresita Adriano presented her paper Critical Linguistic analysis of Print Communications in Tertiary Institutions against a single competitor Prof. Kathleen Villanueva (University of Southern Philippines Foundation) with a study Critical Analysis of Cora Almerino’s Cebuano-Visayan Poetry. Dr. Adriano was declared the room’s Best Dressed/Personality (Female Category).
Increasing the room’s energy was seasoned LA faculty Prof. Armando Parantar whose persuasive yet convicting presentation of his paper Easy Money over Ecological Duty: A Philisophiocal Criticism won him his set’s Best Oral Presenter and diamond in Best in Powerpoint Presentation. He prevailed over Dr. Albert Albina (Negros Oriental State University) and Dr. Rolando Alimen (John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University) whose papers were titled Moral Culture in Kant’s On Education (1803): Implications and Antitheses and John Lacson Maritime University Initiatives towards Global Competitiveness with PACUCOA at the Helm, respectively.
Plenary Presentations
Away from the combat zones was the neutral ground of the plenary hall where participants relished three international talks in amity: The Effects of Learning Orientation on Environmental Sustainability of Small and Medium Enterprises: The Moderating Role of the Institutional Environment by Dr. Hernan Roxas of School of Management and Marketing, Deakin University, Australia; The More, the Deadlier: A Case Study of Group Barebacking among Males Having Sex with Males by Dr. Bernadeth Gerodias of Southern Philippines Medical Center, Philippines; and Wing Structure Design for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Using Additive Manufacturing by Dr. Seung Ki Moon of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
More Recognitions
For serving as Judges in concurrent sessions, Dr. Adriano and Prof. Parantar also received Certificates of Recognition/ Appreciation. The same Certificates were also given to Dr. Limjuco and Prof. Barluado for serving as Session Managers in separate concurrent sessions. Finally, Dr Limjuco and Profs. Catalan, Vasay, and Mamonong also earned individual World Artistic Awards for presenting their talents during the plenary sessions.
Strong Research Culture
With left and right invitations for regional, national and international research conferences and competitions with opportunities for publications, UIC will not run out of research studies for sure… but the opportunities must be afforded to all, hence the pursuit of research by all, as IMAX films’ tag line goes, “Watch a movie. Or be part of it!”