Urban systems and applied technology

Traffic Management

In Cavite province, transportation demand has increased in response to factors such as changes in population structure, people’s travel behavior and industrialization activities. This iterative interaction can be captured by using transportation demand models which integrates land use and transportation plans. Unfortunately, these models on travel forecasting are virtually non-existent in local government development planning processes.

Questions that need answers are as follows: How can Cavite local government units design and implement an integrated land use and transportation planning process using context-specific transportation demand models?. How might computer designed models maximize capacity road network and improve the flow of passengers, goods and services?

Earthquake and Geodetic Implication of Taal

Cavite province is part of the Valley Fault System which starts from the Sierra Madre and runs through Bulacan, Rodriguez, Rizal, Quezon City, the eastern side of Metro Manila including Pasig, Taguig, Muntinlupa, San Pedro, and Sta. Rosa in Laguna and ends in Carmona Cavite. Although it makes sense to think that one earthquake might increase the stress level of nearby fault and trigger another earthquake, some scientists contend that big earthquakes do not happen twice along the same fault line. These mixed findings on earthquake occurrence underscore the importance of better understanding seismic events in the province of Cavite.

Questions that need answers are as follows: How can we evaluate strength performances on seismic actions of low rise school buildings in Cavite? Do building codes and guidelines locally applied on building structures in Cavite province meet the minimum requirements possible to sustain the maximum seismic impacts? How does valley fault system compare to other faults in the Philippines? How can mathematical models be designed to capture the impact on structures of proximal distance during earthquake? What seismic hazard analysis is relevant for Taal Volcano and Mayon Volcano and how can we estimate their eruption volume-frequency distributions? What are the effects of Taal Volcano and Mayon Volcano eruptions on faults? What is the possibility of the occurence of continuous land movement if it involves tectonic plates?

Applied Technology

In this era of globalization and competition, technological development allows firms to innovate, maintain firm specific advantage and improve productivity. Lack of innovation has been cited as the major obstacle to practical applications of theories and concepts to solving real-life problems including delivering quality products to consumers at affordable prices. Some evidence suggests that the cost of Research and Development (R&D) has skyrocketed, making innovation an expensive venture. Additionally, in Cavite’s economic zones, the expected backward integration with local firms to help transfer technology has not happened due to some rigidity.

Questions that need answers are as follows: How do we design low cost industrial equipment for Cavite manufacturing industry? How do we support prototype fabrication and design to facilitate new product development leading to full-scale production?

*NOTE: The above descriptions are exerpts from the Cavite Development Research Program. View the entire document here.

Research @ DLSU-D