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Using math to outpace COVID-19

The mathematical model that serves as the heart of a groundbreaking platform, called the Feasibility Analysis of Syndromic Surveillance Using Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Modeler for Early Detection of Diseases (FASSSTER), took center stage in the latest installment of Ateneo de Manila University’s webinar. Dr. Elvie de Lara-Tuprio, Mathematical Modeling Team Lead for FASSSTER and Chair of Ateneo’s Department of Mathematics, School of Science and Engineering, presented the complex model they are using to provide projections to some of our country’s decision-makers as we continue to face the threat of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the Acts of Magis: Ateneans at the Forefront of a Pandemic webinar held last May 22. “A mathematical model is used to gain insights about a phenomenon,” Dr. de Lara-Tuprio explained. “It’s important to know the difference between the real world in which we observe the phenomenon and the conceptual world where the mathematical model works.

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Robotic Automation Pivotal in Powering Manufacturers in Philippines After COVID-19 Universal Robots' collaborative robots co

Universal Robots, Denmark-based collaborative robots (cobots) technology market leader, today urged Philippines manufacturers to accelerate the adoption of robotic automation in order to remain competitive and efficient ahead of tough economic times after the COVID-19 pandemic. Universal Robots’ e-Series family collaboratively functioning with workers With volatile market conditions and constant disruption, leveraging automation to optimise production is a constant challenge. A new class of robots, dubbed “collaborative robots” aims to bridge the gap between fully-manual assembly and fully-automated manufacturing lines. Universal Robots highlights that cobots could potentially improve productivity for Philippines’ manufacturing sector by up to 30 percent. “As the Philippines gears up for a national infrastructure building and improvement program, it will invariably include automation and AI (artificial intelligence or machine learning). To allay reservations for automation replacing

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KonsultaMD releases video app for 24/7medical consultation

Telehealth service KonsultaMD has released an app that allows customers to engage in teleconsultation with a licensed doctor anytime via voice or video without leaving the comforts of their own homes. The app keeps the customer’s account information such as check-up history and remaining subscription balance and lets the users to top up their subscription as well as request e-prescriptions, e-labs, and e-referrals. This contactless approach to health services is endorsed by the Department of Health as a way to relieve hospitals with non-critical cases and prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus especially among vulnerable members of society. “We understand how difficult it is for people with medical concerns to go to the doctor and face the risk of COVID-19 infection.  Yet there are instances when doctors and patients need to see each other to exchange information especially if visual assessment is necessary such as in the case of skin diseases.  Through the app, we’re giving our c

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UnionBank urges over 1,100 businesses to digitize to survive in the new normal

Over 1,100 small business owners, entrepreneurs and corporates attended a recent webinar on business transformation in the midst of a pandemic, organized by Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) in partnership with Tech Up Pilipinas, the Distributed Ledger Technology Association of the Philippines, UBX and UnionBank GlobalLinker. In the webinar titled “Digitize and Survive,” UnionBank shared how small and medium enterprises can harness technology to transform in order to stay afloat in the new normal prompted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. The forum is the first in a 4-part Tech Up series that aims to help companies evolve in simple, easy ways - at almost no cost. UnionBank leaders shared insights on the pressing need for enterprises to fast-track digital transformation. “Many organizations, large, small and of medium-scale, have realized that investing in resiliency is going to be a lot more important going forward,” said UnionBank chairman Justo Ortiz. “

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Fujitsu Offers Free Access to Intellectual Property Rights to Support Fight Against COVID-19 Fujitsu Limited

Fujitsu Limited today announced that as part of its ongoing efforts to mitigate the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will commit to the "Open COVID Pledge," which promotes free access to participants' intellectual property rights for activities aimed at ending the global spread of the disease. In committing to the Open COVID Pledge, which originated in the US, Fujitsu has declared that it will not assert its patents, utility models, or designs against individuals or entities for a certain period of time and will not seek any consideration or compensation for such activities. Fujitsu has also endorsed and declared its involvement with the "OPEN COVID-19 DECLARATION," a similar initiative in Japan. Through its commitment to these pledges, Fujitsu will contribute decisively to an early end to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing free access to approximately 40,000 patents, utility models, design patents (including pending applications) related to the

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Why ERP Can Be The Secret To Fueling A Recovery For Midsize Companies

Disruption, in general, is enough to compel midsize companies to make significant changes to their business processes across service, sales, marketing, finance, workforce management, and production planning. But when that “disruption” turns into a full-force global crisis, business leaders find themselves searching for ways to keep their business afloat and hold themselves together until signs of a rebound emerge. At some point, though, a way forward must be mapped to ensure the business is on the right path toward recovery when better times come. But this time, returning to “business as usual” is no longer an option. New trends that require resilience, agility, and instant insight are accelerating, threatening established business practices that were designed primarily for scalability, automation, and cost savings. The next wave of business innovation will not come from making existing processes faster. Instead, the focus will be on a company’s ability to act without delay, respondi

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Globe partners with Philippine Red Cross to support rapid COVID-19 response app

With the unfamiliar situation brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic, Globe believes that knowing how to stay informed in such times is crucial in ensuring the safety of Filipino citizens and in helping frontliners contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country. That is why Globe is teaming up with the Philippine Red Cross to support RC143, a contact tracing mobile app created by Red Cross that can help medical frontliners identify possible patients and help users track their levels of exposure to the virus. RC143 is a navigational tool that uses Bluetooth and GPS to trace contact events between users. Through the app’s unique contact tracing feature, users can assess their risk level of contracting the virus as well as get in touch with Red Cross representatives to know more about COVID-19 and for medical assistance. With users’ consent, the app periodically gathers information through phones’ wireless capabilities, layered with location data and other sensory capabilities of the mod

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PH hospitals strengthen cybersecurity during COVID-19

Amid the ongoing global pandemic, Philippine hospitals engaged in COVID-19 response now also face cybersecurity threats with cyber criminals exploiting the pandemic to contrive their cyberattacks and take advantage of vulnerable systems during this time. The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) recently raised alerts on cybersecurity threats, specific to targeting hospitals. In a COVID-19 Czech Republic hospital which is a testing center for COVID 19, for instance, a cyberattack forced the facility to shut down their systems, causing delayed surgeries and forcing them to move some patients to other hospitals. To prevent disruption in local hospitals, the Cybersecurity Bureau of the DICT then urged hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide to employ emergency backup systems for operational continuity for both databases and infrastructure in case of outages caused by malware or cyberattacks. PLDT Enterprise, through its ICT arm ePLDT Inc., has announced

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UBX partners with Lazada to aid online businesses amid COVID-19

Most businesses today are battling the waves to stay alive and their only sensible solution is to take out a loan. Even e-commerce is not saved from this catastrophe.  Seeing how these businesses are struggling to survive on limited resources, Lazada and Union Bank of the Philippines’ fintech subsidiary UBX, through its lending marketplace, SeekCap, have partnered together to help more MSMEs get access to financing. To date, over 6,000 MSMEs have signed up, with a 300% increase in loans application posted during the first quarter. Online lending marketplaces, like SeekCap, have become game-changers for most micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Gone are the days when they had no choice but to undergo manual loan processes and spend ample time collating the required paperwork. SeekCap took the opportunity to lift that burden off their shoulders by narrowing down the loan application process to the simplest and most convenient way possible.  Through SeekCap, applying for a loa

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Microsoft, Developers Connect PH create technology solutions to combat COVID-19

Together with the Department of Science and Technology and Microsoft Philippines, IT developers, entrepreneurs, students, and enthusiasts from Developers Connect Philippines (DEVCON) collaborated to develop digital solutions to address the COVID-19 situation in the country. Among the platforms developed were RapidPassPH and TraceCovid.ph, applications that help the government identify authorized vehicles and personnel and give access to map-verified COVID-19 cases, respectively. On March 16, 2020, DevCon Philippines, one of the biggest tech developer organizations in the Philippines, called for volunteers to catalyze the creation of technology solutions and platform to support efforts against COVID-19. The first webinar held on the same day was attended by almost 200 volunteers from different parts of the Philippines. From this, the DevCon Community of Technology eXperts (DCTx) was formed and almost 1,200 people signed up to volunteer and roughly 600+ participated in the succeeding de

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