ME representatives present papers at PSME confab

Eleven faculty and two student groups with outstanding theses of the Mechanical Engineering Department presented a total of thirteen papers during the 48th Annual National Convention of the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers (PSME) last October 18 to 21 at Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City. The authors and the titles of the thirteen papers, which comprised more than half of all the papers presented during the convention, are as follows:

• “The DLSU-ME Department: Meeting the Challenges as CHED’s Center of Excellence” by Dr. Manuel Belino
• “Assessment of the DLSU Undergraduate Mechanical On-the-Job Training Program” by Engineer Efren dela Cruz
• “De La Salle University Initiatives in Promoting New and Renewable Energy Technology” by Engineer Martin Ernesto Kalaw
• “Kalman Filter in the Field of Mechanical Engineering” by Dr. Alvin Chua
• “Basic Principles in the Control of Bottling Lines” by Dr. Edwin Calilung
• “An Experimental Investigation of the Physical, Chemical, and Thermal Properties of Philippine Calatrava Coal-Diesel Oil Mixture as Alternative Fuel for Industrial Steam Generators” by Archie Maglaya
• “Enhancement of Energy Extraction and System Efficiency of Micro- and Mini-Hydro Power Plants Using the Two-Cell Cross Flow Turbine and Fuzzy Logic Controller” by Engineer Godofredo Salazar
• “Performance Analysis of Turbine Draft Tube” by Gerardo Augusto
• “Fuzzy Membership Functions and Inference Rules for Stabilization Control of Micro-Hydro Power” by Lawrence Gan Lim
• “Fuzzy Assessment of Environmental Impacts in Life-Cycle Analysis” by Engineer Raymond Tan and Dr. Alvin Culaba
• “Elements of Gear Manufacture: Its Design, Inspection, and Testing Consideration” by Jose Hernandez
• “Mechatronics Design in an X-Y Oxy-Acetylene/Plasma Cutter” by DM Caña, KA Ching Sai, DV Dizon, RV Iturralde, and AY Chua
• “Improvement and Modification of an Interactive Machine Elements Training Kit for Mechanical Engineering Instruction in Kinematics and Machine Elements” by E Evangelista, MA Menor, MJ Pasco, A. Ubando, JB Uy Bomping and ME Kalaw.

Dr. Elmer Dadios, Manufacturing Engineering and Management faculty and team leader of the gold medalist RP soccer robots, also presented his paper titled, “The Philippines Research Team for Micro-Robot Worldcup Soccer Tournament.” On the other hand, Salazar received the plaque for the Outstanding Mechanical Engineer in the Field of Research/Invention and Innovation during the convention’s awards night.

Economics faculty delivers professorial lecture on Philippine IPOs

Department of Economics associate professor Dr. Angelo Unite delivered the Don Jose Fernandez II Distinguished Professorial Chair of Business and Economics lecture titled “Differential Underpricing of Philippine Initial Public Offerings (IPOs): Reputation Concerns or Conflict-of-Interest Problems?” on November 8 at the Ariston Estrada Seminar Room.

The lecture, which is based on a joint paper by Unite and former visiting professor Dr. Michael Sullivan, discussed underpricing and aftermarket concerns of Philippine IPOs, covered specific features of the Philippine IPO market, and investigated the causes of its underpricing.

He argued that underpricing of Philippine IPOs, averaging 22.69% over the 1987 to 1997 period, is somewhat less than underpricing found in other emerging Asian economies. Unite added that three-year aftermarket returns are not found to be different than returns for a matched sample of firms. Features of the Philippine economy that may affect its IPO market include a relation-based corporate governance system, the presence of dominant family business groups, specifically when these affiliated firms use a foreign lead underwriter.

The lecturer concluded that conflicts of interest problems are recognized by market participants and that these conflicts of interest lead to differential underpricing.

Unite is a senior fellow at the DLSU Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies and the Yuchengco Center for East Asia. He earned his Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Alberta, Canada, and his Master in Business Administration and AB Economics from De La Salle University-Manila.