Kid's Tree - Aratilis

Sinong batang Pilipino ang hindi nakaranas kumain ng aratilis? I pity them. Because I believe every Filipino kids tried to eat this fruit. Let's tackle first the facts about this tree. According to the famous Wikipedia,

Muntingia calabura, the sole species in the genus Muntingia, is a flowering plant native to southern Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and western South America south to Peru and Bolivia. Common names include (English) Jamaican cherry, Panama berry, Singapore cherry, Strawberry tree; (Spanish) bolaina, yamanaza, cacaniqua, capulín blanco, nigua, niguito, memizo or memiso; (Indonesia) kersen; and (Filipino) aratilis, aratiles, manzanitas.

leaves & fruits in Hyderabad, India.

It is a small tree 7-12 meters tall with tiered and slightly drooping branches. It has serrated leaves 2.5-15 cm long and 1-6.5 cm wide. The flowers are small ,white and slightly malodorous. It gives rise to 1-1.5 cm light red fruit. The fruit is edible, sweet and juicy, and contains a large number of tiny (0.5 mm) yellow seeds.

It is a pioneer species that thrives in poor soil, able to tolerate acidic and alkaline conditions and drought. Its seeds are dispersed by birds and fruit bats. It is cultivated for its edible fruit, and has become naturalised in some other parts of the tropics, including southeastern Asia. As a pioneer plant, it could help condition the soil and make it habitable to other plants. However, it might also be considered as an invasive species since it might out-compete indigenous plants.

When I was a kid, I used to eat this fruit. You'll be addicted with it's sweetness. It's unmarketable in Philippines so its totally free for everybody especially for kids. The tree just grow in evey soil even in arid lands or even in a polluted area of Metro Manila. I featured this tree just to remember my young days (I'm still young though) with this tree.

INTEL ISEF 2011 - Asian among the winners

From: http://www.intel.com/

Who said that Asians can't compete with others? In recent Intel ISEF 2011 this May 2011, secondary students become the Innovators.

Intel ISEF 2011

Inspiring Innovators of Tomorrow

Each year, approximately seven million high school students around the globe compete in local science fairs where they get the opportunity to apply classroom learning in the real world, conduct authentic research, and explore their potential as future scientists and innovators. The thousands who win these fairs move up to regional, state and national contests.

Ultimately, those who triumph at these Intel ISEF-affiliated events earn the opportunity to compete at the world’s largest pre-college science competition: the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a program of Society for Science & the Public.

This year, more than 1,500 young scientists and mathematicians from 65 countries, regions and territories gathered in Los Angeles, California, to participate in Intel ISEF 2011.

During their week in Los Angeles, these young innovators presented original research and inspiring inventions as they vied for more than USD 4 million in prizes. This included the Gordon E. Moore Award, a USD 75,000 prize for the first-place winner, as well as two USD 50,000 Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards for the two runners-up.

Participants also had the opportunity to meet like-minded peers from distant lands, interact with Nobel laureates and other distinguished professionals in their fields of study, and attend social events, including an opening ceremony hosted by Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, the annual Intel ISEF pin exchange, and a trip to Universal Studios.

Asian Winners

Not one among the more than 1,500 finalists in the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) would know if he/she/the team is a winner until their name gets called during the Special Awards night or Grand Awards ceremony at the closing of the 5-day youth event.

Everyone of course dreams of bringing home a Grand Award in his/her category (there are 17 of them). Usually, about 25% of the finalists would get rewarded for their excellent research project since plenty would get a fourth ($500), or third ($1,000), or second ($1,500) grand awards.   

Sometimes there would be 2 or 3 recipients of the first grand award ($3,000) but one has to be "Best of the Category" ($5,000) to qualify for the Gordon E Moore and the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards.

Four Asians--two individual and two team finalists--were in the running for the three 'Best of the Bests' this year:   

• The team from Thailand--Pornwasu Pongtheerawan, 16, Tanpitcha Phongchaipaiboon, 17, and Arada Sungkanit, 17--was best in the environmental management category for showing the potential of the gelatin in fish scales as tbio-based food packaging plastics. They received the Intel Foundation Young Scientists Award for this work. 

• The South Korea team was the best in the environmental sciences category.  Jinyoung Seo, 18, and Dongju Shin, 18, mimicked the wetting behavior of spider silk in the study of its water-harvesting efficiency. This work gained for them the Dudley R. Herschbach SIYSS Award, which entitles them to an all-expense-paid trip to the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar (SIYSS) and attendance at the Nobel Prize ceremonies, in Stockholm, Sweden.

• The best in the computer science category is from China.  Lai Xue, 18, studied the "efficient implementation of tilt compensated compass and depth camera in interactive augmented reality."  This work earned him an all-expense-paid trip to attend the European Union Contest for Young Scientists, the host city, which changes every year, still to be announced.

• The project of Raghavendra Ramachanderan, 16, of India was the best in the chemistry category. Her work dealt with "braving legendary challenges in drug synthesis."

This is not the first time that Asians were in the top three winners of the Intel ISEF.  Until 2009, all three 'best of the bests' received the same Young Scientists Award.  Yuanchen Zhu of China and Yi-Han Su of Chinese Taipei were among the recipients of the top prize in 2004 and 2008, respectively.

It's a dream prize for all who participate in the ISEF-affiliated fairs throughout the world.

Here are Asian grand awardees this year in Los Angeles, California, by country:

CHINA (9).

• Lai Xue, 18. First Award and Intel ISEF Best of Category (Computer Science) Award for Efficient Implementation of Tilt Compensated Compass and Depth Camera in Interactive Augmented Reality.

• Yizheng He, 18, Haoyan Kang, 18, and Jiayi Wang, 17.  Second Award in Computer Science for The Research on the Space Interactive 3D Mapping Method.

• Jiaqi Duan, 16, Zihan Zhang, 18, and Sihan Jiang, 17. Fourth Award in Behavioral Sciences for Is Nephila clavata a New Species of Social Spiders? A Preliminary Study on Behaviors of Nephila clavata.

• Fubin Li, 17, Yakang Li, 18, and Zhongning Hao, 15. Second Award in Biochemistry for Research on Functional Dietary Fibre of Wheat Bran.

• Zehong Weng, 18.  Third Award in Engineering (Electrical and Mechanical) for Assistant of Walking Aid: Walking Aid Facility for the Old and the Relevant Patients.

• Ka Chon Leong, 18 of Macau. Fourth Award in Engineering (Electrical and Mechanical) for TongueMove: Barrier Tree Tongue Controller.

• Io Tong Chan, 18, Chi Kit Cheong, 17, and Ka Hong Lao, 17 of Macau. Fourth Award in Engineering (Electrical and Mechanical) forEnhanced Navigation System for Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle.

• Yixin Zhang, 17,Yumeng Li, 16, and Anqi Wang, 17.  Fourth Award in Environmental Sciences for Research on Effect of Urban Rainfall Runoff Pollution on Water Environment and Amount Accounting.

• Yimeng Shi, 18.  First Award in Physics and Astronomy for The Flow Feature around Insects and Bionic Wing Based on Wind Tunnel Test.

CHINESE TAIPEI (4).

• Kevin Sean Chen, 17.  Third award in Animal Sciences for hisSeeing What You Want to See: Visual Experience and Top-down Processing in Honeybee.

• Yun-Chen Chien, 17. Third Award in Chemistry for Lighting Insulin with Gold Nanodots.

• Yu-Jung Chen, 18.  Third Award in Computer Science for Maintaining Viewing Quality with Lower Number of LEDs

• Janet Yun-Chen Sung, 18, and Nai-Wen Hu, 16.  Second Award in Physics and Astronomy for Studies of Cell Elasticity by Nonlinear Damping.

INDIA (5). 

• Raghavendra Ramachanderan, 16. First Award and Intel ISEF Best of Category (Chemistry) for Drug Synthesis: Braving Legendary Challenges.

• Akansha Verma, 16, and Abhishek Khanna, 17.  Fourth Award in Animal Sciences.  Acmella oleracea: A Naturally Growing Weed as Effective Pest Controller.

• Hetal Kanjibhai Vaishnav, 18, and Ankur Kanjibhai Vaishnav, 16.  Second Awrd in Environmental Management for Recycling Rexine Waste--A Novel and Economical Approach.

• Pramoda Nekkare Vishnumurthy, 15, and Bhargava Chakrakodii Subbanna, 14.  Third Award in Environmental Management for Eco-friendly Ink from Terminalia chebula.

• Manosij G Dastidar, 18.  Second Award in Mathematical Sciences for Integer Partitions and Sequences.

JAPAN (2).

• Riou Tanaka, 16.  Third Award in Earth & Planetary Sciences for Gap in the Deep Sea?: Reconstruction of Sedimentary Environment of the Kurotaki Unconformity, Central Japan Based on Foraminifers. 

• Nobutada Kawazoe, 17, Taiki Maehata, 17, and Rushia Kanai, 17,  Fourth Award in Earth & Planetary Sciences for Characterization of Volcanic Lightning and Modeling How Volcanic Lightning Occurs at Sakurajima Volcano in Kagoshima, Japan.

MALAYSIA (2).

• Haleeda Hilmi, 17, Tunku and Nurul Amira Salehin, 17.  Fourth Award in Environmental Management for A Fishy Detector. 

• Zawin Najah Binti Zulkefli, 17. Third Award in Environmental Sciences for Green Based Conductive Polymer Sensor.

PAKISTAN (1).

• Mehwish Ghafoor, 15, and Ambreen Bibi, 15.  Third Award in Environmental Sciences for Degradation of Environmental Pollutants with Nanocomposites.

PHILIPPINES (2).

Angeli meets the press at her ISEF booth.

Miguel Reyes during a pre-ISEF project presentation.

• Angeli Joyce Yap Dy, 16.  Fourth Award in Chemistry for Milkfish (Chanos chanos Forsskal) Serum as an Alternative Media Supplement for Culture of A549 (Human Lung) and HCT 116 (Colon) Carcinomas.

• Miguel Arnold Silverio Reyes, 16.  Second Award in Engineering-Materials and Bioengineering for Synthesis and Characterization of Composite Plastics from Thermoplastic Starch and Nano-sized Calcium Phosphate for Film Packaging.

SINGAPORE (3).

• Herng Yi Cheng, 18.  First Award in Computer Science for Composing Frusta to Fold Polyhedral Origami.

• Qin Xiang Ng, 18, and Wei Liang Matthew Lee, 18.  Second Award in Environmental Management for To Investigate the Adsorption Potential of Orange Peel Biosorbents for the Removal of Copper(II) Ions.

• Yuan Jin Tan, 17.  Second Award in Microbiology for Identification and Characterization of Bacterial Endophytes as Novel Bio-inoculants for Jatropha.

SOUTH KOREA (4).

• Jinyoung Seo, 18, and Dongju Shin, 18.  First Award and Intel ISEF Best of Category (Environmental Sciences) Award for Mimicking Wetting Behavior of Spider Silk: Studies on Water-Harvesting Efficiency According to the Fabrication of the Pattern of Wettability Gradient.

• An Ji Hun, 17, and Junha Park, 17. Fourth Award in Animal Sciences for The Mechanism of Lysophosphatidic Acid-induced Procoagulation in HumanErythrocytes.

• Tae Young Roh, 16, Ju Yeop High School, Yeon Ji Kim, 17, Paik Yang High School, and Beom Kwan Kim, 16.  Fourth Award in Engineering (Materials and Bioengineering) for Hatch an Egg with Insulation and Hot Pack Instead of Electricity.

• Woongui Hwang, 18, and Doyeon Baek, 17.  Fourth Award in Environmental Sciences for The Way of CO2 Storage Using Formation of Carbonate Minerals by Aboriginal Microbes.

THAILAND (2).

• Pornwasu Pongtheerawan, 16, Tanpitcha Phongchaipaiboon, 17, and Arada Sungkanit, 17.  First Award and Intel ISEF Best of Category (Environmental Management) Award for Bio-based Packaging Plastics from Fish Scale. 

• Thanasup Gonmanee, 18, Worrada Junmook, 18, and Narintadeach Charoensombut, 18.  Fourth Award in Engineering (Materials and Bioengineering) for Utilization of Mucilage Derived from Lemon Basil Seeds as Coating Substance for Fruit Preservation.

Filipino Winners 

PHILIPPINES (2).

Angeli meets the press at her ISEF booth.

Miguel Reyes during a pre-ISEF project presentation.

• Angeli Joyce Yap Dy, 16.  Fourth Award in Chemistry for Milkfish (Chanos chanos Forsskal) Serum as an Alternative Media Supplement for Culture of A549 (Human Lung) and HCT 116 (Colon) Carcinomas

Angeli Dy was looking for an alternative media supplement to the expensive fetal bovine serum (FBS) that is used in the culture of the two cancer cells. She experimented on the milkfish serum, which she found to be rich in proteins.  Her study indicates that milkfish serum, its mannose-binding proteins and albumin are potential replacements of FBS.

In her prize-winning work in 2009, she tested the cytotoxic potential of milkfish bile against the same cancer cells.

• Miguel Arnold Silverio Reyes, 16.  Second Award in Engineering-Materials and Bioengineering for Synthesis and Characterization of Composite Plastics from Thermoplastic Starch and Nano-sized Calcium Phosphate for Film Packaging.

Miguel Reyes was looking at producing biodegradable plastic for film packaging from a composite of thermoplastics from cornstarch and nano-sized calcium phosphate particles. While the project is more on materials engineering, the impact is on the environment. 

Jatropha curcas is more associated with bio-fuels. In fact, there is a company in the Dept of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR) umbrella whose thrust is to develop jatropha plantations in unused public lands for bio-fuel production.

 

(from blog of Naquem)

 

Kudos to you guys!

Ako si JM

Hi! Ako pala si JM. Ito ang aking unang ginawang blog. Naisip ko lang na gumawa.

Pagpapakilala:

Ako ay isang rehistradong nars na nagaral sa FEU. Yes. Proud akong isang tamaraw nurse. Sa kasalukuyan wala pa akong trabaho. Pero ako ay nakapagtrabaho na (Kakaresign ko lang nung March.) At nangangarap na magkatrabaho ulit (Ayoko na magresign ulit dahil mahirap maghanap ng trabaho.)

Simple lang ako. Anyways this how my classmate during college describes me:

This is from the psychiatric nursing  subject. My classmates describe me like this:

1.Matakaw - yes I am, my physique proved it.

2.Impatient - its true! fast track the time but I have to learn to wait for the right moment.

3.Tamad mag-exercise - hahahaha! Yes, but I'm planning someday that I'll fix my physique for my own health.

4.Matalino pero tamad - hahahahaha! I'm lazy but still witty?

5.Loves to smile - yes I'm smiling a lot. That makes me feel better. It's not pa-cute thing like what others think. But sometimes my smile is really insulting. Hahahaha!

6.Mayabang - sort of, I tend to be arrogant sometimes which is not good.

7.Kind - of course I am but not always.

8.Silent type - yes, and really timid. Lack of self-confidence!

9.Insulted always - yea, why is this so?

10.Problem-free - NO NO NO!

11.Naughty - yea there's a part of me that I'm still naughty! Childish perhaps.

12.Masungit - sometimes if I'm really get frustrated!

This is what they perceived to me some are true others are not (for me) hehehe!

Ayan medyo kilala niyo na ako.. hehe!