NU12 #8 - What pisses you off at the mall? : Free Air (Arlo Cristobal)
I like going to the mall. Especially during summer when it's extremely hot outside and the air conditioners inside the malls are maxed out. The only problem I have with malls is the sheer volume of people come summer season. The mall goers spike in numbers due to summer vacation, mall promos and, of course, the free cool air experience. With the bulk of people piling up in malls, it often gets too loud and sometimes too warm in certain areas of the mall.
One solution to this is to have a mall sensor and an outline of the mall that shows were the majority of the people are located. Similar to the lights in the mall parking that glows red when it's occupied and green when it's free. A digital map in the mall would show areas with less people in green and areas that are packed with red. This solution can go both ways. Those who fancy going to crowded areas to check the commotion would be attracted there, and those who wants more room to move and better air quality can choose the "green zones."
This will even out the distribution of people in the mall and the mall operators can also benefit from it. First, they would know where to put additional security. Second, they can monitor temperatures in certain areas so as not to put all air conditioner units in full blast. That would definitely save them significant amount money from electricity bills. Lastly, they can identify which areas are visited more. This can be beneficial to future mall expansion plans and future new malls. 4
NU12 #9 - What pisses you off at the neighborhood? : Spot Lights to Stop Fights (Arlo Cristobal)
One night last February 2013, there was a random case of horrific violence along our street. I don't live in a private subdivision with 24-hour security nor do I belong in a high profile neighborhood. We have lived in this area for as long as I remember and our street had been plagued with alcohol and drug related violence from time to time. The local government had put in several measures to keep the peace, but nothing had been substantial.
The barangay had implemented a curfew for children to keep them safe, but most of those who initiate violence are adults. They also tried putting a roaming squad of barangay tanod, but its effectiveness only limited. Surveillance cameras would be a good solution in isolating offenders, but would be too costly to implement and maintain. The solution I propose is simple and sustainable.
To aid the barangay officials catch and identify offenders, they can put spotlights that can be triggered with loud sounds and rapid footsteps (most offenders come in running before they initiate violence; trust me, I've seen my share of such incidents being in the mid-shift for 3 straight years). It should also have a remote trigger so the barangay tanod can manually switch it on whenever they see suspicious activities. This will only be and aid, but not the entire solution. They should still keep the curfew and regular roaming. <with motion detector?>
To make this sustainable, they can affix solar panels and capacitors in the street lamps. They can use the solar charged capacitors until it runs out and just switch to grid power automatically when needed. 3
NU12 #10 - What pisses you off in your office? : Food Security (Arlo Cristobal)
I always bring food to work. A lot of my co-workers bring food too to save money. What really pisses me off lately has been the frequent incidence of food theft in our office. I don't know if this is a minor offence, but it really bothers me that people will take the food you prepare with so much care from your house. We tried putting labels in our food, and notes in the refrigerator door warning other people from taking food that isn't theirs. These incidents had become so frequent lately that we even thought of putting bait food with laxative in the fridge! Of course, that would be against our code of conduct.
As a solution, what I suggest the company do it fit the refrigerators with mini drawers that has built-in locks. This locks will have their default keys left there and whoever wants to use the "refrigerator slots" can do so in a first come, first serve basis. There should also be a log sheet so that the key holders can be monitored. In case the employee forgets the food there, representatives of the maintenance staff in charge of cleaning the ref can have a spare key so that anything left there over the weekend can still be thrown away. < hahaha necessity is the mother of invention really> 4
This solution may be a bit too drastic, but I really hate it when people mess with my food! To maximize space, people can also share ref slots with each other. This way, you'd be able to keep your food safe and your lunch/dinner buddies closer.
NU12 #11 - What pisses you off at AGSB? : Panic Parking (Arlo Cristobal)
One thing that pisses me off in AGSB is having to pay for parking upon entrance. One experience that I have was going to class one Saturday morning and forgetting to prepare 45 pesos for my parking fee. I usually come in just in time for the 9am class so I really don't have a lot of time to spare. I know that the solution to this is to come in a bit earlier, but there will be times when nature and surrounding conspires against you and you still come up late despite your best effort.
The quick solution to this dilemma is to have the parking payment paid upon leaving. But this might cause traffic during dismissal time. Another solution would require the use of existing technology. Why not use a prepaid card system that you can swipe to enter. For this instance, the student ID can be designed for this functionality since you would need your ID to enter the campus anyway. That way, you don't have to prepare 45 pesos every Saturday morning. The parking fee can either be pre-paid or post-paid and any unsettled fee can be settled before the term ends. To add, designing the ID for this functionality would not need additional design changes. Our school IDs are already equipped with bar codes and were already being used in the library prior to the installation of finger print scanners. To save cost, they can simply use the old scanner from the library and place it in the parking and modify it with a bigger boom gate. For the parking fee balance and payment, a few lines of code can easily be inserted in the database since all our records already exist in school. 4
