NU12 by Mike Ligayo - Business knowledge radio station

Prof. Jorge,

Below is my 11th NU12 (replacement for the jatropha entry).

Regards,
Michael Ligayo

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BIZ RADIO

I was driving through SLEX the other day when heavy rains suddenly poured near the San Pedro exit. To reduce my fear of the rains and occasional thunder and lighting as well as the tension that other cars and trucks are giving me, I opened the radio in the hopes of finding something nice and probably worthwhile to listen. Unfortunately, you only hear three things – bad / sad news and commentaries, music and love life problems. While it is true that some of these can be worth listening to, of course, depending on the situation where you are into, I would like to find something new. This is when the idea of the "Biz Radio" comes to my mind.

"Biz Radio" is a radio station (preferably in the FM band where there are a lot of yuppie listeners) solely dedicated to spreading the knowledge of business. It can have programs such as:

·       Success stories of entrepreneurs

·       A series on new business knowledge and techniques such as blue ocean strategy, freemium, etc (instead of radio drama, for say a week or two per topic) where a professional / expert can talk about it

·       A talk on topics such as branding, operations, problem solving, performance evaluation, etc. done by experts on such fields

·       New business opportunities

·       Technological innovations that can be used in business

·       Product or service releases

·       Business news such what is happening on the stock market, mergers and acquisitions, company announcements, etc. (can also add an analysis of these news especially on how it can impact specific businesses)

There are a lot of other programs that can be introduced by such a radio station. It can bank on the fact that taking an MBA or training courses on these topics can be very expensive and can be timing-consuming. Since not everyone has the resources or the opportunity to attend such, the programs on this radio station can be very beneficial from the simple sari-sari storeowner to the CEO of a multi-national company. The ordinary employee can learn a lot of new things while driving or being stuck in traffic. This way, business knowledge will not be rare and the radio station can make it a common language of the Filipino.

One may ask, however, as to the means by which the station can survive financially. Obviously, much like any other radio station business, advertising will play a crucial role. Here are some ideas:

·       Advertising of new products / services

·       Promotion of training such as those from Business Coach, Neville-Clarke and many others

·       Possibly "pay-per-listen" for the very expensive topics (it can provide certificates as well)

·       Advertising from schools such as the Ateneo CCE

 It must always be remembered that business knowledge can be shared to all and of course, can be used by all. So next time you tune in to your favorite station, why not start by clamoring for a business-related program to start with?  (a very mall market just l% of total population)   3

NU12 by Mike Ligayo - Seatbelt with BP meter,

Prof. Jorge,

Below is my 12th NU12.

Regards,
Michael Ligayo

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SMART CAR PART 2

I recently made an NU12 entry on the "smart car". In that entry, the "smart car" was linked to a downloadable smartphone application with a lot of proposed features that will make the "smart car" work more efficiently and safely. The tools available on the smartphone were tapped to make it work with the "smart car".

In this entry, additional features to the "smart car" will be proposed, still in the effort of making it safer and more efficient.

The Blood Pressure Measuring Seatbelt

In a program I watched on the ABSCBN News Channel, the speaker from LTO mentioned that one of the major causes of road rage is when a person is hungry. In his words, "ang taong gutom ay mas mainitin ang ulo". Unfortunately, there is no real measure of hunger of a person except indirectly through his blood pressure. Significant changes on a person's blood pressure can be experienced if he / she is hungry. This is the basis of the "blood pressure measuring seatbelt". Obviously, the seatbelt, when worn by the driver, will have the ability to measure the blood pressure of the driver. This will give a general condition of the driver as to whether he is fit or not to drive, not only if he is hungry or not. Extremely low or extremely high blood pressure is a signal that the person is not fit to drive. To make it smarter, the car can automatically stop its engine or switch to "auto-pilot" if it finds that the driver is not fit to drive. The destination can be configured through its GPS. 3

The Driver's License Barcode Scanner

One of the most common violations of drivers is driving without license. There are probably thousands of reasons why drivers do so – forgotten, lost, don't have and many, many others. The bottom line is that it is a violation to do so. This is the reason why the "smart car" should adapt to this. Simply, the driver has to scan his / her license and to be able to match the license with the driver, the steering wheel of the car will have a fingerprint scanner. This way, the "smart car" would be able to ensure that the driver has his / her driver's license and that the owner of the license is the one driving. Without scanning the correct license to match the fingerprint, the engine of the car won't start. Obviously, upon the purchase of the "smart car", the driver has to register his / her license and fingerprint. The "smart car" can also tell if the driver's license is already expired or not. (or have this in your Android Phone) 3

NU12 by Mike Ligayo - Speed Limits when raining, regional...

Prof. Jorge,

Below is my 13th NU12. Please have it considered if there is any of my new entries that do not fit the qualifications.

Regards,
Michael Ligayo

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PROPOSED NEW LAWS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Back in High School, I once thought of becoming a lawyer to eventually enter into politics. But that dream never became a reality; instead I became a Chemical Engineer. This is probably the reason why I have quite a number of new ideas on what laws and ordinances to enact. I consider them new ideas since it seems that none of our politicians have ever thought of them.

Rainy Day Speed Limit

Road conditions change significantly during rains. Obviously, the roads become more slippery but at the same time, splashing water can become a safety hazard. Unfortunately, speed limits on our national highways and expressways do not consider such conditions. This means that regardless if the conditions is as safe as a sunny day or is a dangerous as a rainy day, the same speed limits apply. Thus, a driver is still allowed to run at 100kph despite continuously splashing water on the windshield of a nearby vehicle. (This is something I experienced and it is really very dangerous because you don't see anything in front of you.) Thus, there is a need to specify a speed limit when weather conditions change. Perhaps, 20kph lower than the current speed limit will do.

To help in the implementation, highways and expressways can install digital speed limit signs, which can be altered by Traffic Management if the need arises. For example, if you enter the South Luzon Expressway and there are no rains, the speed limit can remain as is, but when you reach a certain point that is raining, the speed limit sign is changed to match the weather condition prevailing in the area.

The implementation of such a system can significantly reduce accidents and will help drivers act accordingly. 3

Regional Taxation System

In our Economics class, it was reported that the minimum wage of the Philippines is set through a Regional Tripartite. This means that the minimum wage actually depends on the region / location of the company. Naturally, the more developed locations would have a higher minimum wage and vice versa for the less developed areas. In my thought, why not the same for taxation? The same scheme can be implemented for taxation, wherein, the higher tax will be implemented on areas considered to be developed such as NCR, Region 4A and Region 4B while areas such as ARMM and CAR will have lower tax since they are less developed. This system can be implemented for all kinds of taxes – from VAT to withholding tax to real estate tax to inheritance tax.

The biggest benefit of this type of taxation would be less migration of people. With smaller taxes on certain areas, people would choose not to migrate since migrating to a developed area would cause them to have higher tax and therefore, the take home pay might just be the same.

Further, businesses would also start venturing into the less developed areas since tax can cause their expenses to go high. They can take advantage of this system but at the same time help in developing the less developed areas of the country. 3

Use of Wastewater on Golf Courses

Golf courses are considered to be one of the major consumers of fresh water. They use this for many reasons but primarily on keeping the grass green. To the point of view of the ordinary person, this is a complete waste of freshwater resources. Instead of having it used for more productive purposes, the freshwater resource is being used to simply water grass. This is the basis of this new proposed law – that golf courses should only use wastewater or they can have a wastewater treatment facility built if they still want to use freshwater. There are several ways to implement:

·       Purchase treated wastewater from treatment facilities nearby

·       Build a "shared" facility with another golf course

·       Connect wastewater line from a factory, have primary treatment done before having it sprinkled

The main benefit of this proposed law is to minimize the use of freshwater on purposes not intended for human internal consumption. Also, this can seed other laws to come out that would help us in conserving our freshwater resources by ensuring that it is only used for the right purposes. 4 (walang amoy ha Mike)

Michael T. Ligayo - NU12 9/12 new process - seawater to freshwater conver

Prof. Jorge,

Here is my NU12 - 9/12.

Regards,
Michael Ligayo

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FRESH WATER FROM SEA WATER?!

The Water Resources of the World

Over 70% of our Earth's surface is covered by water ( we should really call our planet "Ocean" instead of "Earth"). Although water is seemingly abundant, the real issue is the amount of fresh water available. 

•       97.5% of all water on Earth is salt water, leaving only 2.5% as fresh water 

•       Nearly 70% of that fresh water is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland; most of the remainder is present as soil moisture, or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater not accessible to human use. 

•       < 1% of the world's fresh water (~0.007% of all water on earth) is accessible for direct human uses. This is the water found in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and those underground sources that are shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. Only this amount is regularly renewed by rain and snowfall, and is therefore available on a sustainable basis.

Since antiquity, irrigation, drainage, and impoundment have been the three types of water control having a major impact on landscapes and water flows. Since the dawn of irrigated agriculture at least 5000 years ago, controlling water to grow crops has been the primary motivation for human alteration of freshwater supplies. Today, principal demands for fresh water are for irrigation, household and municipal water use, and industrial uses. Most supplies come from surface runoff, although mining of "fossil water" from underground aquifers is an important source in some areas. The pattern of water withdrawal over the past 300 years shows the dramatic increases in this century.

A timeline of human water use:

•       12,000 yrs. ago: hunter-gatherers continually return to fertile river valleys 

•       7,000 yrs. ago: water shortages spur humans to invent irrigation 

•       1,100 yrs ago: collapse of Mayan civilization due to drought 

•       Mid 1800's: fecal contamination of surface water causes severe health problems (typhoid, cholera) in some major North American cities, notably Chicago

•       1858: "Year of the Great Stink" in London, due to sewage and wastes in Thames 

•       Late 1800s-early 1900: Dams became popular as a water management tool 

•       1900s: The green revolution strengthens human dependency on irrigation for agriculture 

•       World War II: water quality impacted by industrial and agricultural chemicals 

•       1972: Clean Water Act passed; humans recognize need to protect water

The Alternative Process to Obtain Freshwater from Seawater – The Chloralkali Process

The production of caustic soda and chlorine is one of the most important heavy chemical industries. Hydrogen gas is also produced, but in lesser amounts. The two major chemicals that is, chlorine and caustic soda, among many chlorine compounds produced as by-products, are formed entirely from the electrolysis of brine. Caustic soda and its co-product chlorine are used in large quantities as raw materials in the manufacture of organic chemicals, plastics, pulp and paper, aluminum, and in waste treatment. Gaseous hydrogen can be shipped to ammonia plants or used as fuel.

There are three ways of manufacturing caustic soda and chlorine from brine depending of the type of cell used. The first process uses diaphragm cells, made from asbestos. This type produces at most 12% caustic soda, still contaminated with sodium chloride salts. Further evaporation and purification steps are required, which makes the process rather inefficient economically because of the large amount of energy expended (Faith, 1957). Also, the caustic produced may still be too contaminated for use, especially in the synthetic fiber industry, which requires high purity caustic (Black, 1994).

The mercury cell or amalgam cell uses a flowing pool of mercury as an electrode in the conversion of brine to caustic soda, and hydrogen and chlorine gases. The process produces at least 50% caustic soda, essentially free from contaminant salts. The process requires minimum processing and expends less energy than do diaphragm cells. Inherent in the process is the production of a mercury-sodium alloy (amalgam) that is not decomposed by the brine present. This amalgam is decomposed in a separate vessel and leads to a small loss of mercury in the environment. This is mainly discharged into nearby waters. Various studies in Japan have shown that consumption of this mercury-contaminated water produces very serious health complications. This led to efforts to control the effluent mercury concentration or entirely replace the manufacturing process.

The latest electrolytic cells, membrane cells make use of specially fabricated membranes that facilitate electrolysis. These cells have the main advantage of the least energy requirement among the three with a caustic product that has a purity intermediate of the diaphragm and mercury cells. However, the cells are very expensive (Austin, 1984). Further, membrane cells do not withstand extreme pH values (Kuhn, 1971). The presence of the divalent cations Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ also damages the cells. Although the current trend is shifting towards the use of membrane cells, many companies have found it more economical to continue manufacturing caustic and chlorine from the old mercury cell units (Black, 1994).

On the other hand, with the discovery of large mining sites of soda ash (sodium carbonate), efforts were put forth to manufacture caustic from soda ash by reacting it with slaked lime or calcium hydroxide. Caustic soda was successfully manufactured by plants operating within the vicinity of the mining sites. Although this method, the lime-soda process, does not release mercury effluents, it unavoidably releases huge amounts of excess calcium chloride in the environment, which pollutes as well (Black, 1994).

Global Assessment of Caustic and Chlorine

           

Electrolytic production of caustic soda and chlorine occurs in fixed, stoichiometric amounts. However, the demand for the products varies individually, and according the National Statistics Office (1996-2001), worldwide demand has frequently vacillated. Further, international companies are looking for ways to replace entirely pure chlorine compounds, citing the environmental hazards connected with organic compounds made with chlorine (organochlorine compounds). This led to price cutoffs that prompted less production and marketing of the products to avoid financial losses. However, caustic soda can be converted to soda ash, which has a number of applications, while chlorine can be converted to sodium chlorate, whose demand has increased for the last decade (Thompson, 1995). At any rate, both caustic soda and chlorine can still be used as basis for new products.

Local Assessment of the Mercury Cell Process

Mabuhay Vinyl Corporation, established since 1963, is the leading local producer of caustic soda and chlorine, among other products, using the mercury cell as the electrode. When stricter standards were imposed, the plant shifted to using diaphragm cells instead. A process engineer was quoted saying that economically speaking the mercury/amalgam process is very viable, but the local culture of avoiding anything connected with using mercury was so prevalent that it drove off possible local investors. The plant shifted to using diaphragm cells in 1979, when there was yet no technology that could lessen the effluent concentration to safety limits.

Removal of Mercury from Amalgam Wastewater

Previous ways of disposing mercury (II), which include ion exchange and reaction with sulfhydryl groups, proved to be very expensive. Interestingly, German researchers from the National Research Centre for Biotechnology discovered that when treated in a bioreactor inoculated with Pseudomonas putida, about 97% of ionic mercury could be reduced to liquid mercury (Von Canstein, et al., 1999). Another technical-scale study was made, this time using genus Pseudomonas sp. The results in the removal of mercury were similar (Dobler, et al., 2000).  These studies present a novel way to treat wastewater from the amalgam process and eventually revive the method that has been losing to more environmentally friendly cells.

Description of the Process

The conventional chlor-alkali process utilizes either rock salt or concentrated brine as raw material. We propose a method based on the former. Rock salt is dissolved in a mixer, called a resaturator, together with the depleted brine, which is a recycle stream from the mercury cell unit. Next, the clear brine is freed of the ionic contaminants [viz., Iron (II), Ca (II), Mg (II), and SO₄^2-] by treatment with barium carbonate in the first reactor, and subsequently, with soda ash in the second reactor. The ionic reactions are as follows:

Ba²⁺ + SO₄^2-                                             BaSO_4(s)

Fe²⁺ + CO₃^2-                                             FeCO_3(s)

Ca²⁺ + CO₃^2-                                             CaCO_3(s)

Mg²⁺+ CO₃^2-                                             MgCO_3(s)

These ionic contaminants, with the exception of potassium ions (which occur in negligible amounts) are precipitated out of the solution as carbonate salts and as barium sulfate. Heavy metals, like cadmium, mercury, and lead, if present, are precipitated with sodium hydroxide. The treated brine is subjected to gravity settling in two sedimentation tanks operating in series. Slurry, consisting of ionic salts, is withdrawn from the mixture.

The clear brine is pumped to the holding tank and brought to pH 5.5 by addition of aqueous hydrochloric acid and solid NaOH. Water formed from the neutralization reaction is vaporized in the evaporator. The acidified brine passes into the mercury cell where sodium ions are reduced according to the electrolytic reactions:

                        Na⁺ + Cl^-                      Na + Cl₂

Metallic sodium dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam.

                        Na + 4Hg                     NaHg₄

The amalgam passes to the mercury denuder, where the following reactions occur.

                        Na + H₂O                      NaOH + 0.5 H₂

In the electrolytic production of caustic soda, hydrogen and chlorine gases are evolved. Hydrogen can be used for a number of purposes, one of which is the production of hydrochloric acid.

The chlorine gas from the mercury cell is entrained with water vapor.  The entrained water vapor of the hot gas is condensed in a heat exchanger. Water that exists in equilibrium with chlorine gas is further stripped from the mixture in the scrubbing tower using sulfuric acid. It is then compressed to liquid chlorine and packed.

The depleted brine from the electrolyzer is freed of entrained chlorine by air stripping. One reason of stripping chlorine from the depleted brine is for microorganisms to thrive, as chlorine has a disinfecting effect. Chlorine gas and air are liberated as waste gas. The stripped brine, prior to bioremediation is neutralized through the addition of sodium hydroxide and cooled to the optimum temperature for microbial growth. The biologically treated brine is the recycled to the resaturator.

The primary product, 50% by weight NaOH, is essentially free of contaminants. It can further be processed to produce a more concentrated liquid and/or rolled into flakes. 4

Main Products of the Process: Freshwater and Sodium Hydroxide

NU12 for June 5, 2012 (8/12) by Mike Ligayo - Waster Treatment

Prof. Jorge,

Below is my 8th NU12.

Regards,
Michael Ligayo

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REDUCTION OF COLOR IN WASTEWATER USING WASTE AGRICULTURAL MATERIALS

Background

Almost every industry uses dyes and pigments to color its products. Color makes the products look more attractive and pleasing to the eye. According to research, color has an effect on how the product will sell in the market. Thus, dyes and pigments play an important role to various industries. This is most especially true to the textile industry, one of the major industries of Asia. Without color, textile products will not be attractive to its consumers. In almost all cases, colors give clothing the designs and patterns that make it unique and attractive. Nigam, et. al, 1995, reported that the annual world production of dyestuffs is about 640,000 tons. Of this amount, 56% are textile dyes, 23.5% are pigments, and 14% are dyes for paper and the rest for various other uses. There are approximately about 10,000 dyes and pigments available in the market. In the Philippines, it was reported in the Philippine Statistical Yearbook 2000 that in 1996, there are about 556 registered textile establishments and the ratio between the products per by-products sold were 27,033,239. In the following year, the number of registered textile establishments increased to 583 and the products per by-products sold were 30,571,487. The trend in these numbers only indicated that the textile industry is a continually growing local industry.

However, despite the many uses of textile to various industries, textile color, an effluent characteristic, which is easily detected and readily traced back to its source (Dogan, 2000), is a visible indicator of pollution (Porter, 1999).

McKay (1982) stated that in the textile industry, about 10-20% of the total mass of dyes used in the processes is lost as effluents through incomplete exhaustion and washing. He further mentioned that the current treatment processes for dye-containing effluents are only capable of removing about half of the lost dyes, the rest find their way into the environment, either as dissolved or suspended in water. On a daily basis, the world produces about 1 to 2 million gallons of textile wastewater. The amount of effluent produced per pound of fabric processed is about 10-35 gallons (Allen, 1999). In the Philippines, Saluta (2000) reported that textile mills discharge about 42,000 liters of wastewater on a daily basis. Despite all these wastewater produced, the textile industry only reuses about 10% of its process water (Lund, 1971).

Effect of Color on Water

Color in the body of water creates a "blanket" on its upper surface, thereby, preventing the entry of valuable sunlight to the bottom of the body of water, where most photosynthetic plants live. This results to an anaerobic condition at the bottom of the body of water and prevents production of oxygen by photosynthesis. Oxygen is valuable to the reduction of the total organic load of the body of water. Existing Philippine regulations on color include the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Administrative Order No. 34 and No. 35 (otherwise, known as DAO 34 and DAO 35, respectively). The former dealt with the revised water usage and classification, while the latter dealt with the revised effluent regulations.

Alternative Technologies

Today, the methods of color removal from industrial effluents include biological treatment, coagulation, flotation, adsorption, oxidation and hyperfiltration. Among these treatment options, adsorption appears to have a considerable potential (Porter, 1999). Weber (1978), as cited by McKay (1999), enumerated the advantages of adsorption over the other methods. These include: (1) less land area (half to quarter of what is required in a biological system), (2) lower sensitivity to diurnal variation, (3) not being effected by toxic chemicals, (4) greater flexibility in the design and operation, and (5) superior removal of organic contaminants.

Present technology uses activated carbon as adsorbent for the removal of color, taste, odor and many other organic contaminants, specifically, those that are biologically resistant. Others use agricultural wastes, such as: rice husk, bark and cotton waste (McKay et. al, 1999); corncob (El-Geundi, 1990); rice hull (Saminiano, 2002); coconut husk (Manalo, 2001); wood shavings (Abo Elela, et. al, 1987); sunflower stalk (Sun et. al, 1997); corn pith (Fegi, Jr., 2001); natural clay (Hawash, et. al, 1993); peat, bentonite and fly ash (Ramakrishna, et. al, 1997); perlite (Dogan et. al, 2000); and lignite (Allen, et. al, 1989).  One of the new possible adsorbent is sugarcane bagasse. Generally, sugarcane bagasse is used as an energy source in the sugar industry. However, the amount of sugarcane bagasse produced is so much that many sugar factories treat it as solid waste. The Philippine Statistical Yearbook 2000 reported that in 1999, about 375,300 hectares of land are being allotted for sugarcane. The annual production of sugarcane in the Philippines in the same year is about 22,292,900 metric tons, costing about 18280.2 million pesos. Of this total production, Hugot (1972) reported that about 24-30% on mass basis is being disposed as bagasse.

The Proposal

The Philippines is rich in agricultural crops and ultimately, on agricultural wastes, being an agriculturally based country. Further, it is oftentimes the problem as to where our farmers would dump the agricultural waste. For example, in Bay, Laguna (where I live), farmers are prohibited to burn the agricultural wastes in an effort not to pollute the air. However, the agricultural wastes are left to rot in the garbage and in the farmlands. This is part of the problem that is causing the dumpsite (near San Pablo, Laguna) to get over-filled. If we are going to use the agricultural wastes to reduce color in the effluents of factories, these agricultural wastes can be of great use. This is especially since Laguna is rich in factories that release color-rich effluents. (An example of this factory is the Litton Mills that creates jeans.) The benefits of utilizing these wastes would be a better Laguna Lake – having an aerobic condition – and would probably have prevented the recent fish kill.

The Process

The process of utilizing these agricultural wastes is pretty simple. The wastes should be dried and ground to powder form. Then, then can be introduced to the wastewater at certain concentrations depending on the darkness of the color of the water. Heat can be introduced to hasten the adsorption. Finally, filtration can be applied to remove the powdered agricultural wastes together with the chemicals that cause the color of the water. The process works best with organic chemicals such as dyes. <tanong ako sa iyo paano maiaapply to the deceased?> 4

NU12 for May 29, 2012 by Mike Ligayo - Making Places Pet Friendly

Prof. Jorge,

Below is my NU12 for May 29, 2012.

This answers the question "What pisses me off in a mall / resort / hotel?".

Regards,
Michael Ligayo

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PET-FRIENDLY RESORTS

I am a certified dog-lover. That is a sure thing. My dog has always been the "spoiled" one in the family. And yes, he is considered to be part of the family. And why not? He seems to be an extension of myself. He knows when I am feeling down. He knows when I am busy. He knows when I am happy. Basically, my dog is truly my best friend.

However, as a pet-owner, one of the biggest problems that I always have is during vacations. It is always a dilemma where to go, be it a hotel or a resort that will accept my pet. Of course, I want my dog to experience the vacation where I am going to but it is often a problem if the hotel or the resort where I am going will accept him. Even on the house rules, you will see the clause, "Pets are absolutely not allowed", especially on the luxury hotels and resorts. Oftentimes, we end up either not going at all or going for a less "luxurious" accommodation just to ensure that the dog is accepted. Unfortunately, these have downsides. It limits what we can experience in the vacation.

It is very unfortunate that the Philippines, despite the number of pet-lovers, is still not a pet-friendly nation. Facilities and accommodations are still very restricted in terms of allowing pets to come in. I remember trying to bring my dog inside a mall and the guard said that if they allow the pet to get into the mall, I would have to carry him while inside the mall. Imagine the discomfort (especially that my dog is about 6 kilos).

And so I thought of this new idea to have a pet-friendly resort…

What is necessary for a resort to be pet-friendly?

Of course it is going to very expensive for a new resort / hotel to be established. So here is just a list of some changes that current resort / hotel owners can do to make their resort / hotel pet-friendly:

·       Allot some rooms with no carpet. Carpets are usually one of the features that make a room not pet-friendly. The pet easily destroys it. Thus, it is best to create / allot rooms that do not have carpets.

·       Protect bed foams and mattresses. Pet-owners cannot prevent their pets from going to the bed. Thus, these foams and mattresses should be well protected such that dog poop and urine will not sip through. Similarly, mites will also not get through. It is also suggested to ensure that washing is possible after every customer with pets.

·       Have separate accommodations for pets, if possible. The resort / hotel can do this as an additional service. They can provide stay-in rooms for the pets where they can also offer services such as grooming and the likes. This way, the pets are also having a vacation while their owners are enjoying their time. In addition, the owners can visit their pets anytime they want to.

·       For beaches, have a separate location where pet-owners can roam their pets. This is just to separate the pet-owners from the non-pet-owners. In this section, the owner can have frequent personnel to roam around in case there are irresponsible owners who will not clean the mess of their pets.

·       On sale on the resort / hotel can be cleaning materials that the owners can purchase to clean the mess of their pets. This can be packaged tissue, pet diapers, plastic containers, etc that will be necessary to clean poop and urine.

·       Trash bins should also be located everywhere where the owners can throw cleaning materials that they used. This will make it very convenient for pet-owners to clean the mess of their pets and would naturally encourage them to do so.

·       Railings along the shorelines (for beaches) can also be installed to have pet-owners tie their pets while they go swimming. Of course, pools will have to have the same railings but a little far from the pool itself.

·       Very much similar to smoking areas, restaurants inside these hotels / resorts can have designated open areas for customers with pets.

·       Of course, there may still be areas that are restricted to pets. I'm quite sure that pet-owners would understand that.

Conclusion

The Philippines is still very far for being a pet-friendly nation. To a certain extent, pet-owners are still being discriminated especially on resorts, hotels and other establishments. Business owners are afraid that their customers might not like it if they have pets roaming around. However, in a similar fashion, business owners have also not considered they are discouraging pet-owners from becoming their customers. They have not explored enough to ensure that they accommodate for pet-owners and non-pet-owners. I'm still waiting for the day that wherever you go in the Philippines, pets are welcome just like humans are. 4

NU 12 by Mike Ligayo - New Design for Tech Pen

Prof. Jorge,

Below is my NU12 for week of April 24, 2012.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Michael T. Ligayo

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Pilot V5 Sign Pen Cap Problem

The Pilot V5 Sign Pen has been my favorite writing material since high school. It has been with me through a lot of exams, several contract and job offer signing and many other activities that involve writing. The pen has been so comfortable with me that even if I try using other pens, I always go back to what I am used to.

The Pilot V5 Sign Pen has been in the market for more than 15 years now and it seems that it has been doing really well since it continuously stay in our favorite bookstores. Some of the really good features of this writing material are:

·         Comes in five colors – black, blue, red, green and purple

·         Ink release is pretty consistent with the same clarity in every pen stroke

·         Usable until the ink runs out (does not dry even if not used for a long time as long as the cap is closed)

·         Cap does not get loose easily

·         Elegant looking with the its bright silver aluminum cap

·         Lightweight, making it really easy to handle

·         Has the right body radius for easy grip but does not easily break

·         Made of durable material

·         Relatively inexpensive for the quality of writing that you get (just slightly above PHP50)

Figure 1 shows an overview of the pen.

Figure 1. Overview of the Pen.

The Problem:

Though the pen has been very efficient to use, it also has failed me several times. This is when the ink oozes out of the small hole / circle on the pen cap causing ink stains on my clothing (which are very difficult to remove, some are even so heavy that it is already permanent). I initially thought that this issue is only being encountered by me but, after asking people who use the same pen (loyally), I got the information that they also encounter the same issue. Further to this, it causes some buyers of this pen to try-out other writing materials which might have the same benefits without this problem. Obviously, this can potentially cause lose of market share.

Dissecting the problem, we need to look closely on the composition of the cap. Figure 2 shows the different parts of the cap. It is composed of 3 parts, which are named cap sub-part 1 to 3 for the purpose of this paper. What happens is, when cap sub-part 3 is being used / inserted on clothes to have it hanged, it causes portions of cap sub-part 2 to move. Looking closely, cap sub-part 2 is only inserted into cap sub-part 1 (not welded or melted). This causes cap sub-part 2 to move when it is being forced by cap sub-part 3. Unfortunately, cap sub-part 2 goes all the way inside the cap (to approximately ¼ of the total length of the cap) and secures the ballpoint, which is the main writing material and where the ink of the pen comes out. Thus, the main problem of the assembly is its design and assembly make-up.

Figure 2. Different Parts of the Pen Cap.

Proposed Solution:

The problem can be solved quite easily. All there is needed to do is to combine the plastic injection molding of cap sub-part 1 and cap sub-part 2. While this is being done, cap sub-part 3 can be embedded / molded with the 2 sub-parts. (This process is possible in plastic injection molding.) Thus, it is not like it is being sandwiched by the 2 sub-parts, rather it will be part of the cap body itself. The effect of this re-design on the pen would be the following:

• There will be no hole on the plastic cap where the ink can ooze out. This is since cap sub-parts 1 and 2 will be molded as one. This ensures that even if the ink ooze because of other reasons (such as expansion of liquid ink due to heat), it will not cause any clothes stain. The ink will be confined on the cap itself.
• The aluminum handle (cap sub-part 3) will be sturdier even if it is being inserted on thick paper or cloth. This is since it is being held by seamless plastic.
• Since most probably, the injection molding insert will come out of the other end (where the pen is being inserted), the barrel of the handle will tend to taper making this other end smaller. (This is an effect if hot plastic is being molded, thus, one end is smaller in radius than the other by a small value, usually in micrometers.) This allows for better insertion of the pen and making it secured better into the cap.

The only downside of this solution would be an investment on the re-design of the plastic injection molding tool. For semi-precision tools, such as this, it will cost around PHP150K (based on a cost estimate of an expert injection molding engineer) to change 1 cavity of the tool. With usually 32 cavities for this size of plastic product, the total investment cost would be at around PHP4.8M.

Business Benefits:

PHP4.8M seems to be big investment for a pen which costs only about PHP53.00 per piece. However, the cost being paid here is consumer benefit. One out of 20pcs of this pen fails for this issue. There are even cases when consecutive pieces (at least those that I bought) failed. (This is potentially a batch issue.) The only thing that keeps me with this pen (and at least those that I know who use this pen) is the fact that is it really highly efficient based on the good features described on the first part of this paper. Considering the re-design to resolve this problem would make it a “near perfect” pen. Combined with its current cost, this would greatly help make the pen stay in the market longer (and probably attract more consumers).

In order to minimize the cost impact, the producer can wait for the time when mold reaches maximum life (approximately 1M shots) and change with the new design. This way, the impact of the cost can be minimized since based on maintenance requirements, the mold tool insert will really have to be changed after the tool life. 4