NU 6 by Bong Canlas AGSB Clark Smartphone Application to Monitor Hospital Bill

Sir, good evening again.  Here is my 4th NU6.  Thanks again.  - Bong Canlas

Smartphone Application to Monitor Hospital Bill

By: Jose Tiburcio S. Canlas

Monitoring of hospital bills has not been easy for patients at Mother Teresa of Calcutta Medical Center.  Actually, inquiries for billing updates may be made in the billing window that is provided for this purpose.  A billing clerk is designated to receive requests for billing updates.  When requested, the billing clerk will print the updated patient statement of account and give it to the requesting party.  The problem here is that, if you are a 142 bed capacity hospital, it is not surprising to see long lines in the billing window. This discourages some patient relatives in falling in line and making inquiries for billing updates.

We have heard many cases of patients or their relatives complaining that they were not aware that their hospital bill has reached such a high amount until the discharge time.  When this happens, patients or their relatives become angry and would normally ask for a meeting with any member of the management team to voice out their complaint.  It is such a waste of management time if this happens over and over again.  Worse, if the patients are really incapable of producing enough funds to settle the final hospital bill, the Credit and Collection Department would have no other option but to authorize the discharge of the patient after signing a promissory note. This adversely affects the liquidity of the hospital.

The solution I have thought regarding this problem is a smartphone application which will be installed to the smartphone provided by the patient upon admission.  This is not possible only for patients who cannot provide a smartphone. But that would be a rare case.  From the time of admission of the patient and the installation of the application, the hospital bill may be monitored from time to time.  The application will also include a calculator which can compute the estimated hospital bill of the patient for every additional day of stay in the hospital.

This installation of the hospital bill application can result to a lot of good things.  First, the patients and their relatives can effectively monitor the hospital bill.  If they find that they are exceeding their budget, they can request to be transferred to lower rate rooms or even to hospitals where rates are lower such as government hospitals.  Second, this will significantly reduce the complaints for unexpected high hospital bills which result to waste of management time.  Third, this will save on office supplies since there would be no need to print the patient statement of account. 4

NU6 by Jopet Pineda AGSB Clark - Translation Apps for schoolchildren

Hi Prof. Jorge,

Below is my NU6.

TRANSLATOR APP

Many Filipino parents nowadays encourage their children to use English as their primary language to help their children adopt easily when they enter school. However, this led to many children having difficulty understanding and speaking Filipino and their local dialects. These children face a great deal of challenge when they study the subject of Filipino and Araling Panlipunan which is also taught in Filipino. They encounter difficulty reading and understanding Filipino literary works and grammar. To help them understand Filipino better, it would greatly help if there is a phone, tablet and a pc application where students can take a picture of their lessons in Filipino from their textbooks and convert the picture into a Word document. Once converted into a Word document, the application can help the student translate each Filipino word to English so they can understand what they are reading. This can be done by highlighting the words then the application shows the English translation without opening another translator application to check the meaning of the words. This would help the students understand and familiarize themselves with Filipino words and how they are used faster. The application would need a Filipino language expert to come up with a complete list of Filipino words and phrases with their English equivalent unlike most translation apps which are very limited. If the reading material is already in electronic form, my suggested application would also do the same of enabling the student to translate the Filipino words/phrases. The application also has an option to translate English or Filipino words to local dialects so the users can easily communicate in local dialect especially when they go to different provinces in the country with different dialects. 4

Thanks and regards.

Jopet

NU 6 by Elizabeth Timbol - AGSB Clark New Calorie Counter Apps

NU6 Idea 6: The "Calorfie" App

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of living a healthy lifestyle that revolves around diet an exercise.   For most people on a weight loss or maintenance program, many approaches both scientific and alternative/holistic have been developed and have proven their effectiveness all in the same objective of preserving one's well-being.

This mobile app I have in mind is inspired by countless others which is useful for calorie counting.   While most methods require manual entry of the food item, the serving or weight/ volume measurements and the numbers that go with it, I would just like to develop an app wherein you take the photo of the food item from all sides and the calories are already computed instantly!  You don't even have to key in what dish it is as the app will instantly recognize or detect the dish itself down to its individual ingredients and its calorie content per ingredient, broken down from its total calorie content for that particular serving.

This may seem far-fetched but given the pace of technology available, this may just be on hand in the near future.  4

 Elizabeth Carlos-Timbol

NU 6 Mobile Solution for Soil Analysis - from Jose Tiburcio Canlas

Hi Sir, here is my second NU6:

Mobile Solution for Soil Testing

By: Jose Tiburcio S. Canlas

Climate change is a global problem that has affected almost all countries especially those with vast agricultural lands.  Since the Philippines is one country that is vulnerable to climate change, it should be necessary to require a soil analysis on all its agricultural lands.

In an article published at balita.ph, former Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and now head of the India-based International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), William Dar, was quoted saying that if the Philippines will not impose technological advances on soil analysis, we might face 30%-40% reduction in yields. Through soil analysis, micronutrient deficiencies can be detected, such as deficiencies in boron, sulfur and zinc. Hence, as soon as these deficiencies are detected, the farmers will know how to correct them by applying the right treatment. Dar also said the soil analysis and rejuvenation program can potentially increase the yield in most food staples like rice and corn by at least 20 percent. (Ison, 2013)

The Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM) is the government agency that offers soil analysis. The earliest possible time to acquire the results of the test for soil analysis is 10 working days as provided by law. "Samples are air dried and analyzed in batch. Usually, the number of samples and the kind of analysis dictate the length of time. The laboratory staff will inform the client if the two-week allowance is not attainable based on the samples submitted and the kind of analysis required. Samples are analyzed based on standard methodologies as prescribed by the American Soil Science Society. The cost of analysis varies."(Bureau of Soils and Water Management, 2014)

BSWM has a package for field technicians known as "Soil Test Kit." This contains chemical mixtures, formulated by the bureau, and a chart where the farmer will compare the color of the soil sample.

As a mobile solution, we can look into the possibility of making this task easier by integrating it in smart phones. We can develop a downloadable Android application (commonly known as "app"), wherein, the farmers will just take a picture of the obtained result and the smart phone will interpret the results right away.

Aside from faster results acquisition, the application presents a more advanced, more accurate and easier way of analyzing soil samples based on the color chart by BSWM via image processing. This mobile solution is also cost-effective and time-saving. 4

References:

Bureau of Soils and Water Management. (2014, March 6). Retrieved from: http://www.bswm.da.gov.ph/Services/LaboratoryAnalysis

Ison, L. G. (2013, January 7). Retrieved from balita.ph: http://balita.ph/2013/01/07/agri-expert-proposes-soil-analysis-of-philippine-farm-lands-to-guide-farmers-on-right-seedlings-fertilizers/

Fwd: About Apple's Critical Security Flaw, Printing from Android, Evernote Tips and More

This is a feed from Guiding tech on how to upgrade your existing gadgets.

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From: Guiding Tech <newsletter.main@guidingtech.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 25, 2014 at 12:56 AM
Subject: About Apple's Critical Security Flaw, Printing from Android, Evernote Tips and More

10th NU12 by Carlo SenicaTopic: The Filipino Dialect Translator Apps

10^th NU12 Topic: The Filipino Dialect Translator

Summer is fast approaching!  It's the time where we go places, spend time with families & friends, explore & be one with nature, and see the beauty of our country. But one (1) dilemma I have is how to communicate with the people on those different places. I only knew three (3) Filipino dialects: Tagalog, Waray, & Ilocano. As for the Waray & Ilocano dialect I can say that I'm only 10-15% familiar and don't know how to speak but only understand some words.  

Did you know that there are more than 175 languages being used here in the Philippines? Here are some popular Filipino dialects which you might know: Tagalog, Cebuano, Kapampangan, Tausug, Waray, Ilocano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), etc…  

The idea is to create a mobile app that provides an accurate translation of these different dialects.

 Features of the app:

1.       Provides accurate translation

2.       Comes in a user-friendly interface. Example: drop-down option to choose and equate one dialect to another

3.       Showcase the tourist spots of that area and/or province that uses the chosen dialect

4.       Includes vicinity map

5.       Provides information and online reviews on where to eat, where to book hotels, and what are the famous "pasalubong" and its cost.  4

Senica, Carlo Phillip

SPENTREP - S09

Mahusay.  Maraming New Ideas.

NU6: at UI MBA Regis Tablets for Iloilo Taxi

NU 6: Taxi Ads

by: Christian Rafael

Regis MBA Iloilo

Competition in the Taxi Transport in the Philippines is getting fiercer everyday with a lot of fly by night taxi services being offered, and i thought that its high time that a taxi service differentiate it self buy bringing ads to its customers, to make it sound better, customers will be given information about the city or events that will happen in a week or new restaurants that are opening and other stuff. With the advent of electronics getting cheaper and cheaper everyday, taxi companies will be able to equip their cars with tablets and bring value to their customers

The tablet will open a whole new world for operators especially here in Iloilo where the city is slowly becoming a commercial hum for Western Visayas but for Visayas as a whole. 

Tablets will be able to do the following

1. keep customers informed of the route so as to minimise confusion

2. inform customers with events in Iloilo through ads, and by doing so generating additional income for the operator

3. give customers a chance to relax despite being in a traffic situation, as the City of Iloilo continues to grow, the traffic problem needs to be solve and this can be a solution for the customers of the Taxi Company

a tablet can be had for about 5,000 pesos and cheaper ones are also available. If a Taxi Company will be contracting an advertising venture with a certain business for a very low price of P70 per ad, per day, the tablet will be paid for in less than 3 months, Plus with the options of tracking your route, customers will more than likely prefer having that rather than non, even if you dont need it

With more to offer and having the same fare rates, the Taxi Co will be able to attract more customers and bring in more profits by differentiating with very minimal 4

NU12#10 by Gio Mendoza - Mall Navigator apps

NU12#10: Mall Navigator Thru Your Smartphone

By Gio Mendoza

Malls just keep on getting bigger and bigger as the years go by. If you are not a frequent shopper, it takes a lot of time to locate a shop. Even with digital maps in malls, it is still not that easy and convenient to locate the shop you just want to go to or memorize the path suggested by the touch screen digital map you just used near the entrance. A smart phone app which can give you accurate information of where you are and which shop you are going can be very helpful instead, specially if you are in a hurry. Most malls have wi-fi, or smartphones can be on data plan so one can easily connect or access the free service thru this app, and once the app is launched from your smartphone for the mall you have chosen, it will pinpoint your location and you can track your movement if you are near or if you are in the right direction real time. It also gives you the shortest way to get to your destination shop. During super sale and holidays, malls are really jam packed with shoppers and this app can come in handy, it saves you the headache and you can navigate thru the crowd with less effort for any malls in Manila.  3.5  <tama, magaling>