Trip to Xiamen, China (Day 1)

Today (Nov. 1, 2007) I am leaving for Xiamen, China to attend the 3rd EASIAM Annual Conference hosted by Xiamen University.

Details of the conference are found in the following website:

http://www.math.hkbu.edu.hk/easiam_Xiamen/

This will be my fourth trip to Mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau). I first visited Mainland China in October 1996 when I presented a paper at the International Conference on Ecological Engineering in Beijing. My second visit to Mainland China was during the Asia-Pacific High Performance Computing (HPC-Asia) Conference held in May 2000 in Beijing. My third visit to Mainland China was in April 2005 when I attended the ACM ICPC Regional Directors' Workshop and the 2005 ACM ICPC World Finals in Shanghai.

I will leave Manila at 2 pm via Cebu Pacific Airlines and will arrive in Xiamen at 4:20 p.m.

My student, Timothy James "TJ" Yusun, will also participate in the 3rd East Asia SIAM (EASIAM) Conference. TJ and I will present our paper "A Study on Modeling Landslide Dynamics Using Cellular Automata and the Minimization Algorithm." The schedule of our presentation is tomorrow afternoon, Nov. 2.

Cheers,

Raffy
11/1/07

The 2007 ACM Asia Programming Contest - Singapore Roster

The 2007 ACM Asia Programming Contest - Singapore Roster
as of 10/31/2007 5:47:58 PM Central Time

.

Note: To view the current team roster under the 2007 ACM Asia Programming Contest-Singapore Site, click on the following link:

http://icpc.baylor.edu/icpc/regionals/RosterPublic.asp?ContestID=880

Acknowledgment: ACM ICPC Philippines 2007

To All Concerned:

On behalf of the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 and the Computing Society of the Philippines, I would like to thank the following administrators, faculty, staff, and students of De La Salle Canlubang for their valuable contributions to the success of the recently concluded First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007):

1. Br. Joaquin S. Martinez FSC, D. Min.
President, De La Salle Canlubang

2. Dr. Arnulfo Azcarraga
Dean, De La Salle Canlubang

College and Administrative Staff
3. Jenny Villena
4. Marilet Recaldo
5. Myles Hilario

Building Administrators
6. Mar Moraga
7. Engr. Allan Manio
8. Ms. Teng

I.T. Staff
9. Alberto Agawa (Head)
10. Emilson Mabuti
11. Raymond Marcelo
12. Chris Alegre
13. Rodolfo Ramiscal

Audio-Visual Staff
14. Rochiren Larga
15. Jaypeeh Navarete

Others
16. Karen Hebron (Registrar)
17. Rhea Boholano

Student Volunteers
18. Louise Noriega (student representative, CompSci/InfoMgt students)
19. Aiath Maclit (president, Digital Arts Club)
20. JR Sarabia
21. Rochelle Hizon
22. Kemuel Bathan
23. Jefrey Valencia
24. Angelica De Borja
25. Kirk Narvaez
26. Arnaldo Tayao, Jr.
27. Christian Hernandez
28. Mark Sigue
29. Mark Descalsota
30. Ted De La Cruz
31. Sandy Bacalso

Sincererely,

Dr. Rafael P. Saldaña
Director
ACM ICPC Philippines 2007

A Commentary on Problems Given During the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007

Last October 20, 2007 I directed the First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competitition (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007). This contest is affiliated with the ACM ICPC Asia-Singapore Regional Site. I spearheaded the organization of the contest in my capacity as the ACM ICPC Philippines Representative and on behalf of the Computing Society of the Philippines. The contest was hosted by De La Salle Canlubang. ACM stands for Association for Computing Machinery.

The following is the composition of the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 Board of Judges:

Dr. Rafael Saldaña (Ateneo de Manila University) - Chair
Dr. Henry Adorna (University of the Philippines -Diliman) - Member
Dr. Eliezer Albacea (University of the Philippines -Los Baños) - Member
Dr. Jaime Caro (University of the Philippines-Diliman)- Member
Dr. Caslon Chua (De La Salle University - Manila) -Member
Dr. Nelson Marcos (De La Salle University - Manila) -Member
Dr. Raymond Todd Melton (Ateneo de Manila University)- Member

The Board of Judges prepared six (6) problems to be solved by the contestants in three (3) hours. The problems ranged from 'easy' to 'difficult'. They are standard problems in computer science.

The following are the problems given during the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007:

1. Problem A: Forward and Backward
2. Problem B: Counting Corners
3. Problem C: "NBN"
4. Problem D: Longest Common Subsequence
5. Problem E: Factor Factory
6. Problem F: Full Binary Search Tree

The easiest among the six problems is Problem A (Forward and Backward) while the most difficult is Problem E (Factor Factory). Out of 50 teams that participated in the competition, 35 teams were able to solve Problem A while 15 teams did not. No team was able to solve Problem E.

I was the one who gave Problem A. I gave this problem to ensure that most teams will go home with a balloon after the contest. (Note: A trademark of ACM programming contests is the giving of color-coded balloons to teams that have solved a problem. For example, if one team was able to solve 6 problems then that team will receive 6 balloons).

Problem A deals with palindromes. As explained in the problem formulation, a palindrome is a "word, phrase, number or other sequence of units that has the property of reading the same in either direction." For example, the word tenet and the number 123321 are palindromes. A number that is a palindrome is called a palindromic number. [ Note: I made several blog entries on palindromes in my blog last August 2007 :) . I got fascinated with palindromes when I found out that my phone number is a palindromic number. See http://raffysaldana.blogspot.com/2007/08/palindromes-and-palindromic-numbers.html]

The solution to Problem A involves comparing the first element of a string with the last element, the second element with the second to the last element, etc. until there are (N/2) comparisons done, where N (an integer) is the size of the given string. If all comparisons are successful then the given string is a palindrome.

The solution to Problem A is quite trivial. This makes me wonder why 15 out of 50 teams who joined the competition were not able to solve it.

What are the factors why a team gets zero in an ACM programming competition?

Here are my guesses:

1. Lack of preparation/experience/team work
2. Nervousness
3. Not reading the problem formulation carefully
4. Not fit for competition

I would like to encourage schools (offering bachelors' degree in computer science, computer engineering, information science, information technology, or related courses) to join ACM programming contests such as the Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition to benchmark their students' aptitude in computer programming and problem solving.

Dr. Rafael P. Saldaña
Director
ACM ICPC Philippines
10/30/07

Problem F (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition
20 October 2007, De La Salle Canlubang

Problem F: Full Binary Search Tree
(Input File: pf.in)

A full binary tree is a tree in which all non-leaf nodes are filled at every level from left to right except perhaps the last one. A binary search tree is a tree where value stored in the left child node is less than value stored in the parent node and the value stored in the right child node is greater than the value stored in the parent node for all parent nodes.

Figure 1 shows a full binary tree that is also a binary search tree.

Figure 1: Full Binary Search Tree

You are to read a string of numbers then process and print it as a full binary search tree.

Input: The input will contain several test cases. The first line will indicate the number of test cases. Each test case is a string of numbers separated by commas terminated by a 0. We assume that the numbers will be any number from 1 to 99. The string may or may not be arrange and will not contain any duplicate values.

Output: The output shows a full binary search of the string, printed as a triangular shape as shown below.


Sample Input:

2
20, 10, 50, 30, 25, 15, 0
20, 10, 60, 25, 40, 30, 70, 0


Output for the Sample Input:

Case 1:
25
15 50
10 20 30

Case 2:
30
20 60
10 25 40 70

Poster (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

Note: Click on image to see a larger view.

Message of Contest Director (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

MESSAGE

Welcome to the First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007) hosted by De La Salle Canlubang and organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP) in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Fifty teams from 24 schools are vying for the top spot in the ACM ICPC 2007 to be held on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at De La Salle Canlubang in Laguna, Philippines.

Each competing team consists of 3 college/university students. During the contest, each team will try to outsmart each other by solving 6 problems in 3 hours using a computer. The team with the most number of problems solved at the fastest time wins the competition.

The top spots at stake are: First Place (Champion), 2nd Place, and 3rd Place. The top team will be given financial assistance to participate in the 2007 ACM ICPC Asia-Singapore regional contest on December 13-14, 2007. In the Singapore contest, the top teams (usually three) will qualify to the 2008 ACM ICPC World Finals to be held in Alberta, Canada in April 2008.

The ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 is a prestigious event that aims to raise the awareness of the public about the important role of Information Technology in the development of our country and our society. Its objective of bringing together bright and talented young people from different regions of the country to take part in a grueling friendly competition, like a mental olympiad, is very noble.

To all contestants, alternates, coaches, and observers: I hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to meet and interact with fellow competitors. Thanks to my fellow judges, co-organizers, volunteers and sponsors for making the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 a success.


Rafael P. Saldaña, Ph.D.
Director
ACM ICPC Philippines 2007

Message of CSP President (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

MESSAGE

My warmest congratulations to the participants of the First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007).

The holding of the the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 is in line with one of the objectives of the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP), i.e., to contribute in the improvement of computing science education, especially at the tertiary level.

We at CSP are privileged to organize the national programming competion in partnership with the prestigiojus Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

On behalf of CSP, I would like to thank Dr. Rafael Saldaña for his project leadership and Dr. Arnulfo Azcarraga for facilitating the local organization at De La Salle Canlubang. I also would like to thank De La Salle Canlubang for hosting the event and all the staff and volunteers involved in the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007.

Again, congratulations to all and best wishes!

Jaime DL. Caro, Ph.D.
President
Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP)

Program of Activities (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition
October 20, 2007
Hosted by De La Salle Canlubang
Organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP)
in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

PROGRAM

9 - 11 a.m. Registration

11 - 12 noon Opening Session

Invocation
Philippine National Anthem
Welcome Remarks

- Br. Joaquin S. Martinez, FSC, D. Min.
President, De La Salle Canlubang

- Dr. Jaime Caro
President, Computing Society of the Philippines

- Dr. Rafael Saldaña
Director, ACM ICPC Philippines 2007

- Introduction of Participants

Master of Ceremonies: Dr. Arnulfo Azcarraga, Dean, De La Salle Canlubang

12:00 - 1:00 p.m. LUNCH

1:00 - 1:30 Contest Orientation/Instructions

1:30 - 4:30 CONTEST (for contestants)

For Coaches, Observers, and Seminar Participants:

1:30 - 3:00 p.m. Talks on Best Practices in Computer Programming

Speakers: Mr. Allan Espinosa and Mr. Christoper Rigor

3:00 - 3:30 p.m. SNACKS

3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Talk on Best Practices in Mentoring Students for National and International Programming Competitions. Speaker: Dr. Pablo Manalastas

5:00 p.m. Awarding Ceremony/ Distribution of Certificates

Rules of the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007

RULES OF THE FIRST PHILIPPINE NATIONAL INTER-COLLEGIATE
PROGRAMMING COMPETION (ACM ICPC PHILIPPINES 2007)


1.0 Language of the Contest

1.1 The language of the Contest is English.
1.2 All written contest materials will be in English.

2.0 Team Composition

2.1 A team consists of three (3) bonafide students of a higher institution recognized by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
2.2 For the national competition, the student must be an undergraduate student of a four or five-year course.
2.3 The student contestant must be enrolled during the current schoolyear (SY 2007-2008) and must have at least a half-time load.
2.4 A representative of the sponsoring institution of higher education, typically a faculty member, must serve as or designate the team coach.
2.5 The coach certifies the eligibility of contestants and serves as the official point-of-contact with the team prior to and during contest activities.
2.6 A team may only have one official coach.
2.7 A team is not eligible to compete in the regional contest until the contest director has accepted the team’s registration..
2.8 Teams failing to comply with any of these requirements will be ruled ineligible to compete.
2.9 Only registered alternates may be substituted for contestants.
2.10 Such substitutions must be entered in the Official Registration List by the contest director before the contest begins.
2.11 To be eligible for the ACM ICPC Asia-Regional Contests, the student contestant must satisfy the eligibility rules published in the ACM ICPC website (http://icpc.baylor.edu/)

3.0 Contest Attendance and Attire

3.1 All team members must attend the following contest activities:
3.1.1 Opening Ceremony
3.1.2 Contest Proper
3.1.3 Awarding Ceremony
3.2 The coach is expected to attend or be available by phone during contest activities.
3.3 Failure to attend any of the designated contest events may result in automatic disqualification and forfeiture of any awards and prizes.
3.4 Team members and their coaches should wear proper attire during the contest.
3.5 The following are not considered proper attire: wearing sleeveless shirts, short pants, slippers (or flip-flops).
3.6 During the contest proper, team members and coaches shall wear the color-coded t-shirts issued to them during onsite registration.
3.7 Failure to wear proper attire may result in automatic disqualification and forfeiture of any awards and prizes.

4.0 Conduct of the Contest

4.1 Solutions to problems submitted for judging are called runs. Each run is judged as accepted or rejected by a judge, and the team is notified of the results.
4.2 Notification of accepted runs may be suspended at an appropriate time to keep the final results secret. A general announcement to that effect will be made during the contest. Notification of rejected runs will continue until the end of the contest.
4.3 A contestant may submit a claim of ambiguity or error in a problem statement by submitting a clarification request to a judge. If the judges agree that an ambiguity or error exists, a clarification will be issued to all contestants.
4.4 Contestants are not to converse with anyone except members of their team and personnel designated by the regional contest director.
4.5 Systems support staff may advise contestants on system-related problems such as explaining system error messages.
4.6 While the contest is scheduled three hours, the contest director has the authority to alter the length of the contest in the event of unforeseen difficulties.
4.7 Should the contest duration be altered, every attempt will be made to notify contestants in a timely and uniform manner.
4.8 A team may be disqualified by the contest director for any activity that jeopardizes the contest such as dislodging extension cords, unauthorized modification of contest materials, distracting behavior, wearing improper attire, and other improper activities or behavior.
4.9 Six problems will be posed. So far as possible, problems will avoid dependence on detailed knowledge of a particular applications area or particular contest language.

5.0 Contest Computing Environment

5.1 The programming languages of the contest will include C/C++ and Java.
5.2 Each team will use a single workstation.
5.3 The regional contest director is responsible for determining that teams have reasonably equivalent computing resources.
5.4 The following are the computer hardware specifications:
Pentium 4 PC
5.5 The operating system is Microsoft Windows XP
5.6 Keyboard substitution will not be allowed.
5.7 Network shared printers will be made available during the contest proper.

6.0 Team Notebooks
6.1 A team is allowed to bring into the contest area, three copies of a team notebook, one copy for each contestant.
6.2 The notebook must be a three-ring binder that can hold 8.5" x 11” letter-size pages. Each notebook should have the name of the school and the name of the team prominently indicated on its front cover.
6.3 The notebook must have four sections, each section starting with a tabbed divider, labeled NOTES, HANDOUTS, REFERENCE, and WORK.
6.3.1 NOTES -- contains at most four (4) pages of single-sided hand-written notes.
6.3.2 HANDOUTS -- contains only those handouts provided by the Asia-Manila ICPC staff. These handouts may include hand-written comments and corrections.
6.3.3 REFERENCE -- contains up to twenty-five pages of printed notes, single spaced, single sided, in 12 point font of the team's choice, with one-inch margins on all sides. These notes must be the same for all three members of the team.
6.3.4 WORK -- contains a reasonable number, but not more than 100 pages, of blank bond paper and graphing paper, all letter-size, for the team member to use as scratch papers during the contest.
6.4 The notebook may have a plastic pouch containing pencils, pens, erasers, ruler, compass, protractor, and triangles.
6.5 The team members may not bring a calculator to the contest, but the team may use the calc.exe program that is provided by Windows XP.
6.6 Each team member may bring a dictionary for translation purposes. The only marking allowed on the dictionary is the identity of the owner.

7.0 Scoring
7.1 A problem is solved when it is accepted by the judges.
7.2 The judges are solely responsible for accepting or rejecting submitted runs.
7.3 In consultation with the judges, Contest Director determines the winners of the contest.
7.4 The contest director and judges are empowered to adjust for or adjudicate unforeseen events and conditions.
7.5 The decisions of the judges are final.
7.6 Teams are ranked according to the most problems solved.
7.7 For the purposes of awards, teams who solve the same number of problems are ranked by least total time.
7.8 The total time is the sum of the time consumed for each problem solved.
7.9 The time consumed for a solved problem is the time elapsed from the beginning of the contest to the submittal of the accepted run plus 20 penalty minutes for every rejected run for that problem regardless of submittal time.
7.10 There is no time consumed for a problem that is not solved.
7.11 It is the responsibility of the Contest Director to specify any additional tie-breakers.
7.12 The tie-breaker policies must be announced to contestants before the contest begins.

8.0 Certificates and Awards
8.1. Certificates of Achievement will be given to all qualified participants and their coaches.
8.2 Individual medals will be given to team members who will win the following awards:
8.2.1 1st Place (Champion)
8.2.2 2nd Place
8.2.3 3rd Place
8.2.4 Trophies will be given to teams who will win the following awards:
8.2.4.1 1st Place
8.2.4.2 2nd Place
8.2.4.3 3rd Place

9.0 Complaints, Appeals, and Remedies
9.1 If irregularities or misconduct are observed during the contest, team members or coaches should bring them to the attention of the Contest Director immediately so that action may be taken as soon as possible.
9.2. The decision of the Board of Judges regarding awarding of prizes is final.

10. Minor Changes/ Corrections

10.1 Minor changes or corrections (if there any) to this document shall be announced before the start of the Contest Proper and shall be posted on notice boards within the Contest venue.

FOR YOUR GUIDANCE.

(Sgd.) Rafael P. Saldaña, Ph.D.
Contest Director
ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
October 20, 2007

ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 Media Release (Updated)

Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP)
(http://www.csp.org.ph/)
Tel./Fax.: (02) 7090907
E-mail: computingsoc@gmail.com

.

-------------------------------------------
MEDIA RELEASE. October 22, 2007
-------------------------------------------

ACM ICPC Philippines: 200 participants. 50 Teams.
24 Schools. 6 Problems. 3 Hours. 1 Champion.


Fifty teams from 24 schools competed for the top spot
in the First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate
Programming Competition (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)
held last Saturday, October 20, 2007 at De La Salle
University – Canlubang Campus in Laguna.

This event was organized by the Computing Society of
the Philippines (CSP) in cooperation with the
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The host
school was De La Salle Canlubang and the contest
director was Dr. Rafael Saldaña, immediate past
president of the CSP and ACM ICPC Asia-Manila Site
director.

Each competing team consisted of 3 students. During
the contest, each team tried to outsmart each other in
solving 6 problems in 3 hours using a computer. The
team with the most number of problems solved at the
fastest time won the competition.

The problems ranged from “easy” to “difficult” and
included computer science topics such as data
structures, combinatorics, graph algorithms, and
computational methods.

The top spots at stake were: First Place (Champion),
2nd Place, and 3rd Place. The top team (or teams) will
be given financial assistance (subject to availability
of funds) to participate in the 2007 ACM ICPC
Asia-Singapore regional contest on December 13-14,
2007. In the Singapore Contest, the top teams (usually
3) will qualify to the 2008 ACM ICPC World Finals to
be held in Alberta, Canada in April 2008.

Below are the results of the ACM ICPC Philippines
2007:

TOP TEN TEAMS

CHAMPION (1st Place): "U.P. Fighting Morons", University of the
Philippines-Diliman. Members: Marte Raphael Soliza,
Ralph Rainier Pineda, and Reginald Eli
Deinla.Registered Coach: Mr. Eric R. Tambasacan.
(Associate Coach: Dr. Pablo Manalastas). Number of
problems solved: 5, Time: 365 minutes.

SECOND PLACE: "cxxC", Ateneo de Manila University.
Members: James Choa, Wilhansen Li, John Patrick
Manalo. Registered Coach: Dr. Pablo Manalastas.
(Associate Coaches: Mr. Jal de Vera, Mr. Ramon Akie
Mejiea, Mr. Eric Vidal Tan, Dr. John Paul Vergara -
members of coaching team). Number of Problems solved:
3. Time: 148 minutes.

THIRD PLACE: "Heaven", University of the
Philippines-Los Baños. Members: Jeremiah Pascual,
Reinald Pugoy, Maverick Crisostomo. Coach: Mr. Rainier
Alexis L. Rapera. Number of Problems solved: 3. Time:
151 minutes.

FOURTH PLACE: "Team Automata", Ateneo de Manila
University. Members: Ivan John Clement, Jason
Christian Gaguan, Maria Clarisse Ligunas. Number of
problems solved: 3. Time: 196 minutes.

FIFTH PLACE: "Team 43", University of the
Philippines-Diliman. Members: Ralph Justin Arce,
Vanessa Rose Castro, and James Wyson. Number of
problems solved: 3. Time: 234 minutes.

SIXTH PLACE: "DLSU-2", De La Salle University
(Manila). Members: Brian Paul Samson, Christian Valeen
Chiu, Jeric Bryle Dy. Number of problems solved: 3.
Time: 291 minutes.

SEVENTH PLACE: "Excessive Output", Ateneo de Manila
University. Members: Jejomar Alexis Dimayuga, Thomas
Dy, Danna Songco Aduna. Number of problems solved: 3.
Time: 355 minutes.

EIGHT PLACE: "DLSU-1", De La Salle University
(Manila). Members: Jhovee Gerard Yap, Fu Yuen So,
Robert Joseph Carag. Coach: Mr. Danniel Alcantara.
Number of problems solved: 2. Time: 36 minutes.

NINTH PLACE: "Team 45", University of the
Philippines-Diliman. Members: John Kristofferson
Sanchez, Wigi Vei Oliveros, Pio Ryan Lumongsod. Number
of problems solved: 2. Time: 51 minutes.

TENTH PLACE: "eTeam", Ateneo de Manila University.
Members: Richard Locsin, Liza Vila, Byron Wang. Number
of problems solved: 2. Time 65 minutes.


TOP FIVE SCHOOLS:

RANK/ SCHOOL

1. University of the Philippines-Diliman
2. Ateneo de Manila University
3. University of the Philippines-Los Banos
4. De La Salle University
5. FEU-East Asia College

The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest
(ICPC) provides college students with opportunities to
interact with students from other universities and to
sharpen and demonstrate their problem-solving,
programming, and teamwork skills. The contest provides
a platform for ACM, industry, and academia to
encourage and focus public attention on the next
generation of computing professionals as they pursue
excellence.

From thousands of teams competing in regional contests
held from September to December 2007 world-wide,
ninety teams will advance to the World Finals. Awards,
prizes, scholarships, and bragging rights will be at
stake for some of the world's finest university
students of the computing sciences and engineering.

The 2008 ACM-ICPC World Finals will be held April
6-10, 2008, at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in
Alberta, Canada, hosted by the University of Alberta
celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The following are the members of 2007 ACM ICPC
Philippines Board of Judges:

Dr. Rafael Saldaña (Ateneo de Manila University) -
Chair
Dr. Henry Adorna (University of the Philippines -
Diliman) - Member
Dr. Eliezer Albacea (University of the Philippines -
Los Baños) - Member
Dr. Jaime Caro (University of the Philippines-Diliman)
- Member
Dr. Caslon Chua (De La Salle University - Manila) -
Member
Dr. Nelson Marcos (De La Salle University - Manila) -
Member
Dr. Raymond Todd Melton (Ateneo de Manila University)
- Member

The schools that participated in the ACM ICPC
Philippines 2007 are as follows (with the
corresponding number of teams):

1. AMA Computer College – Legazpi City (1 team)
2. Asia-Pacific College (2 teams)
3. Ateneo de Davao University ( 1 team)
4. Ateneo de Manila University (7 teams)
5. Ateneo de Naga University (2 teams)
6. Camarines Norte State College (1 team)
7. De La Salle Canlubang (3 teams)
8. De La Salle University – Manila (2 teams)
9. Emilio Aguinaldo College (1 team)
10. FEU-East Asia College (4 teams)
11. Lyceum of Batangas (1 team)
12. Manuel Enverga University Foundation (2 teams)
13. Mapua Institute of Technology (3 teams)
14. MSU – Iligan Institute of Technology (1 team)
15. Naga College Foundation (1 team)
16. Polytechnic University of the Philippines (1 team)
17. San Pedro College of Business Administration (1
team)
18. San Sebastian College (1 team)
19. Technological Institute of the Phils. – Manila (2
teams)
20. Technological Institute of the Phils. – Quezon
City (2 teams)
21. University of the Immaculate Conception – Davao (2
teams)
22. University of Saint Louis – Tuguegarao (1 team)
23. University of the Philippines – Diliman (6 teams)
24. University of the Philippines - LosBanos (2 teams)

A related activity organized by the CSP was the
seminar on “Best Practices in Computer Programming and
Mentoring Students for National and International
Programming Competitions” which was held in De La
Salle Canlubang on October 20, 2007. Invited speakers
included: Mr. Allan Espinosa, Mr. Christopher Rigor,
and Dr. Pablo Manalastas – all members of the
Philippine team that has competed in the ACM ICPC
World Finals.

For more information, contact:

THE SECRETARIAT
ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
Tel./Fax. (02) 7090907
Mobile: 0928-5043121
E-mail: computingsoc@gmail.com

Or visit the contest website:
http://icpc2007manila.blogspot.com/

or Dr. Saldaña's blog:
http://raffysaldana.blogspot.com/

ACM ICPC Asia Programming Contest

The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is a two-tiered competition. Teams first compete in Regional Contests, then the top teams from each regional contest site around the world will be selected to compete in the ACM ICPC World Finals.

The Ateneo de Manila University has hosted two Asia Programming Contests (the ACM ICPC Asia-Manila Site) in the past (in 2005 and in 2006) with myself as the Regional Contest Director.

In Asia, the regional sites for 2007 are as follows:

Beijing (China)
Changchun (China)
Chengdu (China)
Amritapuri (India)
Danang (Vietnam)
Dhaka (Bangladesh)
Kanpur (India)
Nanjing (China)
Seoul (South Korea)
Singapore (Singapore)
Taipei (Taiwan)
Tehran (Iran)
Tokyo (Japan)

For the Asia-Singapore site, the following are the relevant information:

The 2007 ACM Asia Programming Contest - Singapore

hosted by
School of Computing, National University of Singapore
http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/

Asia Singapore On-Site Regional Contest
December 13-14, 2007

---- National / Provincial Contests ----

The Indonesia National Collegiate Programming Contest
hosted by Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, IndonesiaContest
Date: June 16, 2007

........

The Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition
hosted by De La Salle University - Canlubang, Philippines
Organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines
Contest Date: Oct 20, 2007

........

The ACM-ICPC Malaysia al-Khawarizmi Programming Contest
hosted by International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
Contest Date: December 5-6, 2007

-----

Asia Singapore On-Site Regional Contest
hosted by National University of Singapore
Date of Contest: 13 - 14 December 2007

The contest draws students from colleges and universities throughout Asia. Winners selected from regional contests on six continents will advance to the ACM Programming Contest World Finals to compete for bragging rights and scholarships.

Registration is conducted from March 19, 2007 to October 31, 2007.
Advance dRegistration ends Sep 30, 2007.

Coaches new to this regional must setup a new coach account to make team reservations at the Coach Registration Site.

Coaches who already registered at this regional may make, edit, or cancel team reservations at the Coach Account Site. This includes coaches who had teams compete in this regional last year.
(Registration works best with Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Cookies must be enabled and JavaScript enabled.)

Fees:

Advance registration fee: US$100/S$160
Normal registration fee: US$130/S$200 Register three teams from one university, each team pay: US$100/S$160

Fees Cover:
T-shirt
Food & Board
Certificate of participation
Contest bag

Billing:

Bank Draft to be drawn in a Singapore local bank made payable to "National University of Singapore". Send the draft to Dr. Tan Sun Teck, School of ComputingNational University of SingaporeComputing 1, Law LinkSingapore 117590

More Information:

Visit the regional contest home page
Add yourself to the mailing list
View the team roster

From:

Dr. Rafael P. Saldaña
Director
ACM ICPC Philippines
10/25/07

(Source: http://icpc.baylor.edu/)

Problem E (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition
20 October 2007, De La Salle Canlubang
Organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines
in cooperation with Association for Computing Machinery

Problem E: Factor Factory
(Input File: pe.in)

The general form of a univariate polynomial is anxn + an-1xn-1 + … + a1x + a0 where:

1. n is the degree of the polynomial and is a non-negative integer
2. anxn, an-1xn-1, …, a1x, a0 are called terms of the polynomial
3. an, an-1, …, a1 are called coefficients of the terms, and an is the leading coefficient of the polynomial
4. a0 is a constant

A monomial is a polynomial with only one term.

Write a program that completely factors (based on the rules given) polynomials that are in terms of x, with maximum degree of 100, and having integer coefficients and/or constants within the range -100 to 100. Monomial factors should not be factored further. Non-monomial factors should be factored further if and only if they have polynomial factor/s of degree 1, or they can be factored as a difference of 2 squares, difference of 2 cubes, or sum of 2 cubes.

Input:

The file consists of several test cases, each with a case number and the polynomial to be factored. The symbol ^ denotes exponentiation. Assume the terms in a polynomial are arranged in decreasing degree and there are no spaces between the characters.

Output:

For each of the test cases, output the factored polynomial, where:1. Each factor should be enclosed in a parenthesis (unless there’s only 1 factor) without spaces between the characters.2. Each factor should have exponents, coefficients, and/or constants in integer form only3. The factors should be arranged from the lowest degree to highest degree; factors of the same degree need not be arranged in a particular order.4. The terms in each factor should be arranged in decreasing degree.5. Non-monomial factors should have positive leading coefficients.

Sample Input:

Case 1: 3x^3–3
Case 2: –x^5+4x
Case 3: 4x^2+8x+4
Case 4: 2x^3+11x^2 + 17x+6
Case 5: –6x^2

Sample Output:

Case 1: (3)(x–1)(x^2+x+1)
Case 2: (–x)(x^2+2)(x^2–2)
Case 3: (4)(x+1)(x+1)
Case 4: (x+3)(x+2)(2x+1)
Case 5: –6x^2

Problem D (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition
20 October 2007, De La Salle Canlubang
Organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines
in cooperation with Association for Computing Machinery


Problem D: Longest Common Subsequence
(Input File: pd.in)

Given two sequences of characters, print the length of the longest common subsequence of both sequences. For example, the longest common subsequence of the following two sequences:

abcxyz
dahcjyk

is acy of length 3.

The input of your program consist of pairs of lines where the first line is the first sequence of characters and the second line is the second sequence of characters. Each sequence is on a separate line and consists of at most 1,000 characters.

For each subsequent pair of input lines, output a line containing one integer number which satisfies the criteria stated above.

Sample input:

abcdefgh
azbxcydwe
1a2b3c4d
aa1bb2cc3dd
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9j0k1l2m3n4o5p6q7r8s9t0u1v2w3x4y5z6

Output for the sample input:

5
4
26

Problem C (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition
20 October 2007, De La Salle Canlubang
Organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP)
in cooperation with Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Problem C: “NBN”
(Input File: pc.in)


In the City of Nubia, a broadband network needs to be set up to connect the entire city. Connections are from point to point connecting various city agencies. To link the connections with each other, connections are built to intersect with one another forming a junction point. Each connection can have more than one junction point to ensure connectivity and reliability.
Figure 1 shows a possible Nubia broadband network connecting all the city agencies. For simplicity, we assume that all connections are straight lines, and no agencies are left out.


Figure 1: Map of six city agencies and its connection

With numerous scandals that had rocked the City of Nubia, teams of concerned students are determined to develop an algorithm to detect connections that has no junction. Connections with no junction(s) are just redundant connections in the network such as connection CE. This is a way to pad the cost of the network especially if the connections will not be actually built. Thus the developed algorithm must be able to detect that no junction exists. It is also noted that a single-line connection is also not allowed as it has no fail safe feature.


Input:

The input will contain several test cases. The first line will indicate the number of test cases. Each test case begins with a number representing the number of connections between city agencies. The subsequent lines contain the name of the connection followed by four integers, representing the end points of the connection in x, y format. Connections names are represented using two-letters in the English alphabet, where each letter represents a city agency. It is noted that the maximum number of agency is 26. We assume that the top left corner of the map extent is the origin and anything to the left and bottom are the positive axis. It is noted that the coordinate values will be any number from 0 to 999.

Output:

The output shows the connection followed by a remark indicating with intersection or no intersection.

SAMPLE INPUT

2
2
AB, 20, 5, 10, 20
CD, 20, 10, 20, 120
4
AF, 20, 10, 30, 30
BC, 30, 10, 10, 20
CE, 10, 20, 20, 30
DE, 40, 20, 20, 30

OUTPUT FOR THE SAMPLE INPUT:

Case 1:

AB has no junction
CD has no junction

Case 2:

AF has junction
BC has junction
CE has no junction
DE has junction

Problem B (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

Note: Double click on the image to see a larger view.



ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition
20 October 2007, De La Salle Canlubang
Organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines
in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery

Problem B: COUNTING CORNERS
(Input File: pb.in)

Problem A (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition
20 October 2007, De La Salle Canlubang (Laguna, Philippines)
Organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP)
in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)


Problem A: Forward and Backward
( Input File: pa.in )

A palindrome is a word, phrase, number or other sequence of units that has the property of reading the same in either direction. For example, the word tenet and the number 123321 are palindromes.

Palindromes date back at least to 79 A.D., as the palindromic Latin word square "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas" was found as a graffiti at Herculaneum, buried by ash in that year. This palindrome is remarkable for the fact that it also reproduces itself if one forms a word from the first letters, then the second letters and so forth. Hence it can be arranged into a word square that reads in four different ways: horizontally or vertically from top left to bottom right; and horizontally or vertically from bottom right to top left. (Source: wikipedia.org)

Task: Write a computer program to determine whether a given word or number is a palindrome.

Input: A string of characters (maximum of 255 characters). Note: if a character is a letter, then treat a small letter as equal to a capital letter. For example, the word Tenet is the same as tenet and both words should be treated as palindromes.

Output: For each case, write the capital letter Y if the given string is a palindrome; otherwise, write the capital letter N.

Sample Input:

Tenet
123321
12345678910

Output for the sample input:

Y
Y
N

Ranks of Schools, ACM ICPC Philippines 2007

Note: Fifty (50) teams from twenty-four (24) schools from different regions in the Philippines competed in the First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007) held on October 20, 2007 in De La Salle Canlubang (Laguna, Philippines). The event was organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP) in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Six (6) problems were given to the contestants to be solved in three (3) hours. The school ranking is based on the output of the school's best performing team.

RANK/ SCHOOL

1. University of the Philippines-Diliman
2. Ateneo de Manila University
3. University of the Philippines-Los Banos
4. De La Salle University
5. FEU-East Asia College
6. MSU-Iligan Institute of Tech.
7. Ateneo de Davao University
8. Ateneo de Naga University
9. De La Salle Canlubang
10. University of the Immaculate Conception-Davao
11. Mapua Institute of Technology
12. Manuel Enverga University
13. Asia-Pacific College
14. San Pedro College of Business Administration
15. Technologial Institute of the Philippines-Manila

SPECIAL MENTION

AMA Computer College-Legazpi
Camarines Norte State College
Emilio Aguinaldo College
Lyceum of Batangas
Naga College Foundation
Polytechnic University of the Phils.
San Sebastian College
Technological Institute of the Philippines-Quezon City
University of St. Louis-Tuguegarao

From,

Dr. Rafael P. Saldaña
Director
ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
10/22/07

Ranks of Teams, ACM ICPC Philippines 2007

Note: Fifty (50) teams from twenty-four (24) schools from different regions in the Philippines competed in the First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007) held on October 20, 2007 in De La Salle Canlubang (Laguna, Philippines). The event was organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP) in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).


RANK
TEAM NAME
SCHOOL
Number of Problems SOLVED
TIME (in minutes)

1
U.P. Morons
U.P. Diliman
5
365

2
cxxC
Ateneo de Manila University
3
148

3
Heaven
U.P. Los Banos
3
151

4
Team Automata
Ateneo de Manila University
3
196

5
Team 43
U.P. Diliman
3
234

6
DLSU-2
De La Salle University
3
291

7
Excessive Output
Ateneo de Manila University
3
355

8
DLSU-1
De La Salle University
2
36

9
Team 45
U.P. Diliman
2
51

10
eTeam
Ateneo de Manila University
2
65

11
FEU-EAC2
FEU-East Asia College
2
82

12
Busy Beavers
MSU-Iligan Institute of Tech.
2
86

13
FEU-EAC3
FEU-East Asia College
2
92

14
Cookies and Cream
Ateneo de Davao University
2
94

15
FEU-EAC4
FEU-East Asia College
2
97

16
KASAG
Ateneo de Naga University
2
112

17
Team 44
U.P. Diliman
2
136

18
Star
U.P. Los Banos
2
138

19
LCD
Ateneo de Manila University
2
140

20
Team Home
De La Salle Canlubang
2
228

21
Sitsiritsit Autobots
UIC Davao
2
260

22
cinq
Ateneo de Manila University
2
261

23
Alibangbang Decepticons
UIC Davao
2
295

24
Team 28
Mapua Institute of Technology
2
436

25
Team 47
U.P. Diliman
1
8

26
FEU-EAC1
FEU-East Asia College
1
16

27
Team 16
De La Salle Canlubang
1
23

28
Lambanog
Manuel Enverga University
1
28

29
King Fish
Asia-Pacific College
1
32

30
SPCBA
San Pedro College of BA
1
41

31
Bleeding Nose
TIP-Manila
1
60

32
Bleeding Ears
TIP-Manila
1
61

33
ANIIT
Ateneo de Naga University
1
112

34.5
Team TVV
De La Salle Canlubang
1
170

34.5
Team 30
Mapua Institute of Technology
1
170

SPECIAL MENTION

Team 1
AMA Computer College-Legazpi

Jet's Angels
Asia-Pacific College

Jamming Turtles
Ateneo de Manila University

Team 14
Camarines Norte State College

Team SISON
Emilio Aguinaldo College

Patriots
Lyceum of Batangas

Banahaw
Manuel Enverga University

Team 29
Mapua Institute of Technology

Borabod
Naga College Foundation

Team 33
Polytechnic University of the Phils.

Stags
San Sebastian College

Decepticons
TIP-Quezon City

Autobots
TIP-Quezon City

dxdiag
University of St. Louis-Tuguegarao

Team 48
U.P. - Diliman

From,

Dr. Rafael P. Saldaña
Director
ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
10/21/07

Official Results of the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 (TOP 10 TEAMS)

Below are the OFFICIAL RESULTS of the First Philippine National Programming Competition (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007) held on Saturday, October 20, 2007, at De La Salle Canlubang (in Laguna, Philippines), organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP) in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM):

[Note: 50 teams from 24 schools from different regions of the Philippines participated in the competition. Each team has three (3) student members. Six (6) problems were given to be solved in three (3) hours. Teams are ranked according to the number of problems they solved and the time that it took them to solve the problems. The team with the most number of problems solved with the fastest time wins the competition. Three major prizes were given: Champion (1st Place), 2nd Place, and 3rd Place.]

TOP TEN TEAMS

CHAMPION (1st Place): "U.P. Fighting Morons", University of the Philippines-Diliman. Members: Marte Raphael Soliza, Ralph Rainier Pineda, and Reginald Eli Deinla.Registered Coach: Mr. Eric R. Tambasacan. (Associate Coach: Dr. Pablo Manalastas). Number of problems solved: 5, Time: 365 minutes.

SECOND PLACE: "cxxC", Ateneo de Manila University. Members: James Choa, Wilhansen Li, John Patrick Manalo. Registered Coach: Dr. Pablo Manalastas. (Associate Coaches: Mr. Jal de Vera, Mr. Ramon Akie Mejiea, Mr. Eric Vidal Tan, Dr. John Paul Vergara - members of coaching team). Number of Problems solved: 3. Time: 148 minutes.

THIRD PLACE: "U.P. Team Heaven", University of the Philippines-Los Baños. Members: Jeremiah Pascual, Reinald Pugoy, Maverick Crisostomo. Coach: Mr. Rainier Alexis L. Rapera. Number of Problems solved: 3. Time: 151 minutes.

FOURTH PLACE: "Team Automata", Ateneo de Manila University. Members: Ivan John Clement, Jason Christian Gaguan, Maria Clarisse Ligunas. Number of problems solved: 3. Time: 196 minutes.

FIFTH PLACE: "Team 43", University of the Philippines-Diliman. Members: Ralph Justin Arce, Vanessa Rose Castro, and James Wyson. Number of problems solved: 3. Time: 234 minutes.

SIXTH PLACE: "DLSU-2", De La Salle University (Manila). Members: Brian Paul Samson, Christian Valeen Chiu, Jeric Bryle Dy. Number of problems solved: 3. Time: 291 minutes.

SEVENTH PLACE: "Excessive Output", Ateneo de Manila University. Members: Jejomar Alexis Dimayuga, Thomas Dy, Danna Songco Aduna. Number of problems solved: 3. Time: 355 minutes.

EIGHT PLACE: "DLSU-1", De La Salle University (Manila). Members: Jhovee Gerard Yap, Fu Yuen So, Robert Joseph Carag. Coach: Mr. Danniel Alcantara. Number of problems solved: 2. Time: 36 minutes.

NINTH PLACE: "Team 45", University of the Philippines-Diliman. Members: John Kristofferson Sanchez, Wigi Vei Oliveros, Pio Ryan Lumongsod. Number of problems solved: 2. Time: 51 minutes.

TENTH PLACE: "eTeam", Ateneo de Manila University. Members: Richard Locsin, Liza Vila, Byron Wang. Number of problems solved: 2. Time 65 minutes.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!!!

From,

Dr. Rafael P. Saldaña
Director
ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
10/21/07

ACM ICPC Philippines 2007: The Heat Is On

ACM ICPC Philippines : 200 participants. 50 Teams. 24 Schools. 6 Problems. 3 Hours. 1 Champion.

The heat is on.

Fifty teams from 24 schools are vying for the top spot in the First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007) to be held on Saturday, October 20, 2007 at De La Salle University – Canlubang Campus in Laguna.

This event is being organized by the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP) in cooperation with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The contest director is Dr. Rafael Saldaña, immediate past president of the CSP and ACM ICPC Asia-Manila Site director.
Each competing team consists of 3 students. During the contest, each team contestant will try to outsmart each other by solving 6 problems in 3 hours using a computer. The team with the most number of problems solved at the fastest time wins the competition.
The problems will range from “easy” to “difficult” and will include computer science topics such as data structures, combinatorics, graph algorithms, and computational methods.
The top spots at stake are: First Place (Champion), 2nd Place, and 3rd Place. The top team (or teams) will be given financial assistance to participate in the 2007 ACM ICPC Asia-Singapore regional contest on December 12-13, 2007. In the Singapore Contest, the top teams (usually 3) will qualify to the 2008 ACM ICPC World Finals.

The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) provides college students with opportunities to interact with students from other universities and to sharpen and demonstrate their problem-solving, programming, and teamwork skills. The contest provides a platform for ACM, industry, and academia to encourage and focus public attention on the next generation of computing professionals as they pursue excellence.

From thousands of teams competing in regional contests held from September to December 2007 world-wide, ninety teams will advance to the World Finals. Awards, prizes, scholarships, and bragging rights will be at stake for some of the world's finest university students of the computing sciences and engineering. The 2008 ACM-ICPC World Finals will be held April 6-10, 2008, at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta, Canada, hosted by the University of Alberta celebrating its 100th anniversary.

In the 2006 ACM ICPC Asia Manila Site regional contest held at Galleria Manila last year, the top three teams from the Philippines were: First – Ateneo de Manila University, Second – De La Salle University-Manila, and Third – University of the Philippines – Diliman.

The following are the members of 2007 ACM ICPC Philippines Board of Judges:

Dr. Rafael Saldaña (Ateneo de Manila University) - Chair
Dr. Henry Adorna (University of the Philippines - Diliman) - Member
Dr. Eliezer Albacea (University of the Philippines - Los Baños) - Member
Dr. Jaime Caro (University of the Philippines-Diliman) - Member
Dr. Caslon Chua (De La Salle University - Manila) - Member
Dr. Nelson Marcos (De La Salle University - Manila) - Member
Dr. Raymond Todd Melton (Ateneo de Manila University) - Member

The schools that have pre-registered in the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 are as follows (with the corresponding number of teams):

1. AMA Computer College – Legazpi City (1 team)
2. Asia-Pacific College (2 teams)
3. Ateneo de Davao University ( 1 team)
4. Ateneo de Manila University (7 teams)
5. Ateneo de Naga University (2 teams)
6. Camarines Norte State College (1 team)
7. De La Salle Canlubang (3 teams)
8. De La Salle University – Manila (2 teams)
9. Emilio Aguinaldo College (1 team)
10. FEU-East Asia College (4 teams)
11. Lyceum of Batangas (1 team)
12. Manuel Enverga University Foundation (2 teams)
13. Mapua Institute of Technology (3 teams)
14. MSU – Iligan Institute of Technology (1 team)
15. Naga College Foundation (1 team)
16. Polytechnic University of the Philippines (1 team)
17. San Pedro College of Business Administration (1 team)
18. San Sebastian College (1 team)
19. Technological Institute of the Phils. – Manila (2 teams)
20. Technological Institute of the Phils. – Quezon City (2 teams)
21. University of the Immaculate Conception – Davao (2 teams)
22. University of Saint Louis – Tuguegarao (1 team)
23. University of the Philippines – Diliman (6 teams)
24. University of the Philippines - LosBanos (2 teams)

A related activity being organized by the CSP is the seminar on “Best Practices in Computer Programming and Mentoring Students for National and International Programming Competitions” which will be held at De La Salle Canlubang on October 20. Invited speakers include: Mr. Allan Espinosa, Mr. Christopher Rigor, and Dr. Pablo Manalastas – all members of the Philippine team that has competed in the ACM ICPC World Finals. This seminar is open to the public. Registration cost is PhP 1,000 for professionals and PhP 700 for students. Discounts will be given to members (in good standing) of the Computing Society of the Philippines.

For more information, contact:

THE SECRETARIAT
ACM ICPC Philippines 2007
Tel./Fax. (02) 4266125, (02) 7090907
Mobile: 0928-5043121
E-mail: computingsoc@gmail.com

Or visit the contest website: http://icpc2007manila.blogspot.com

Farewell, Dr. Conrado Dayrit, 88

Note: Last Monday, October 7, 2007, my project assistant, Arianne, called me and asked permission to leave early from work. She said she that she will join the staff of our Science and Engineering Dean, Dr. Fabian "Toby" Dayrit to visit the remains of Toby's father, Dr. Conrado Dayrit in Greenhills. I was surprised to know that Dr. Conrado Dayrit passed away already. I asked Arianne whether it was announced somewhere. She told me that it was posted on the Ateneo Blueboard, the online Ateneo bulletin (it turned out that my e-mail was no longer subscribed to the Blueboard).

That Monday night, I went with some of my co-faculty members in the Math Department to the wake of Toby's father. Our group included Reggie (Dr. Reginaldo Marcelo, Math Department Chairman), Ninette (Dr. Ma. Antoinette De Las Penas), and Jume (Dr. Jumela Sarmiento).The wake for Dr. Conrado Dayrit's remains was held at the Sanctuario de San Jose in Greehills East, San Juan, Metro Manila. During the wake, we were able to witness a eulogy for Dr. Conrado Dayrit. We heard interesting stories about Dr. Conrado Dayrit from his granddaughter and his son-in-law. Toby was there together with his family. Aside from Toby, another famous son of Dr. Conrado Dayrit is Dr. Manuel ("Manolet") Dayrit, former Secretary of the Department of Health (DOH).

Dr. Conrado Dayrit was an institution in the Philippine scientific community. Recently, his name was associated with the popularity of "virgin coconut oil".

Our university president, Fr. Ben Nebres, SJ, released a memorandum on the passing away of Dr. Dayrit. The memo was published in the Ateneo de Manila University website (http://www.ateneo.edu/) . Below is the text of Fr. Ben's memo on Dr. Conrado Dayrit:

[startofquote]

(Source: http://www.ateneo.edu)

06 October 2007

MEMO TO : The University Community

FROM : The President

R E : Death of Dr. Conrado S. Dayrit, M.D.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is to inform the University community of the passing away of Dr. Conrado S. Dayrit, M.D. (GS ’32, HS ’36, AA ’38).

In 2006, Ateneo de Manila University conferred on Dr. Dayrit the Lux-in-Domino Award which we describe as “a special recognition of an extraordinary individual who has incarnated in life, and perhaps even in death, in an exemplary manner, the noblest ideals of the Ateneo de Manila University.”

A portion of the citation reads:

“True to the ideal of Lux-in-Domino, Dr. Dayrit’s proudest legacy are his and his gentle wife Milagros’ eight children and more than 20 grandchildren, all achievers. His sons and daughter form a Who’s Who roster of their own: a former Health Secretary, a pulmonologist, an exporter, bankers, educators, and of course, Toby, Dean of our School of Science and Engineering. A proficient violinist, Dr. Dayrit has passed on his love of music to the younger generation, and one granddaughter is now a music scholar in the U.S. For despite Dr. Dayrit’s full schedule, family time is sacred. The clan attend Mass together on Sundays and discuss issues over lunch at the patriarch’s residence in Greenhills. And speaking of faith, this man of science is also a man of religion, with his lectures on the archaeology and history of the Holy Land replete with slides and maps from his many travels.”

“For living up to the ideals of the Hippocratic oath; of leading an exemplary life as a witness to what it means to be a Christian human being; and for his unique genius in discovering the medicinal value of indigenous Philippine plants, the Ateneo de Manila.University is proud to confer its Lux-in-Domino Award upon Dr. Conrado S. Dayrit, M.D.

His remains are waked at Sanctuario de San Jose, Greenhills East starting tonight. We ask the University community for your prayers for Dr. Dayrit and his family.

BIENVENIDO F. NEBRES, S.J.
President

"
[endofquote]

Condolence to Toby and family.

Farewell, Dr. Conrado Dayrit.

In prayers,

Raffy

10/14/07

Congratulations, Hector Guballa (Pisay '71A)

Note: This piece of information was shared to me via e-mail (10/13/07, 10:30 p.m.) by Ciel (Dr. Cielito Habito), president of the Philippine Science High School National Alumni Association (PSHSNAA) and the PSHS Alumni Association (PSHSAA) and fellow Ateneo faculty member. Hector and I were both former officers of the PSHS Foundation.

Guballa Appointed Director for Development at Ateneo de Manila University

(Source: http://www.ateneo.edu)

Mr . Hector P. Guballa (AB Economics 1975, ADMU) has been appointed Director for Development of the Office of University Development and Alumni Relations (OUDAR) effective September 24, 2007.

Guballa comes to the Ateneo with extensive business experience. Most recently, he was with San Miguel Corporation (1999-2007) where his last position was president and general manager of Cosmos Bottling Corporation (2002-2007).

He also had extensive experience in the East Asian Region, notably in Hong Kong and Korea, as marketing director for SC Johnson Hong Kong and Korea Johnson Co. (1981-1991).

In April 2007, he took early retirement from San Miguel Corporation and joined the Ateneo John Gokongwei School of Management, teaching Strategic Management and is a member of the Board of Directors of the JGSOM Business Resources Center. Guballa is married to Cathy Babao-Guballa (BSBM 1986).

In a memorandum to the community, university President Bienvenido F. Nebres, SJ, said "We believe that Mr. Guballa brings to this position both great expertise and extensive experience and a deep love and commitment to the Ateneo. ... We look forward to his leadership at this critical juncture in the Ateneo de Manila’s life as we enter the final countdown for our 150th anniversary, our Sesquicentennial in December 2009. "

Congratulations, Hector!

Cheers,

Raffy

The Pisay '77 Blogger

10/13/07

Partial Hadamard Matrices and Error Correcting Codes

Last Thursday, October 13, 2007, the Mathematics Department of Ateneo de Manila University had a guest lecturer: Dr. Jose Andres Armario, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, University of Seville, Spain.

Dr. Armario gave a talk on: "Partial Hadamard Matrices and Error Correcting Codes."

Below is the Abstract of Dr. Armario's Talk:

"Levenstein described a method for constructing error correcting codes that meet Plotkin's bound, provided that suitable Hadamard matrices exist. The uncertainty about the existence of Hadamard matrices in all the orders of the multiple of 4 is a source of difficulty for the practical application of this method.

In this talk we will give some ideas about how to extend the method to the case of partial Hadamard matrices. Since efficient algorithms for constructing partial Hadamard matrices are potentially available from the literature, "good" error correcting codes may be constructed in practice.

We will illustrate the method with some examples."

For more information about "Partial Hadamard Matrices and Error Correcting Codes", readers may e-mail Dr. Armario at armario@us.es

Raffy
10/13/07

Congratulations, Dr. Rodel Lasco (IPCC Wins Nobel Peace Prize With Al Gore)

Note: This morning (10/13/07) I received a very welcome e-mail from my PSHS '77 batchmate, Dr. Rodel Lasco, professor at the University of the Philippines - Los Banos, informing me (via our batch e-group) that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize together with former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore.


Below is a copy of Rodel's message:

[startofquote]
"Dear All,

As some of you may have heard, the IPCC won the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. I am pleased to be one of the hundreds (thousands) of scientists who belong to the IPCC. Below is the letter to all of us from the IPCC Chair.

Our report can be found in http://www.ipcc. ch/ I co-wrote Chapter 20 in Working Group 2.

All of you have been part of my life-- so it gives me great pleasure to share this with you.

To God be the glory!

Rodel

***

12 October 2007

Dear Colleagues,

I have been stunned in a pleasant way with the news of the award of the Nobel Peace Prize for the IPCC. This makes each of you a Nobel Laureate and it is my privilege to acknowledge this honour on your behalf.

I am sure you would agree with me that all of us should be appreciative of the support of and facilitation that we have received from all the governments that are part of the IPCC.

The fact that the IPCC has earned the recognition that this award embodies, is really a tribute to your knowledge, hard work and application. Indeed the Co-Chairs of the Working Groups, the TSUs attached to various wings of the IPCC have a large measure of the credit that the award carries. They have provided the leadership and support that accounts for your success to a large measure.

May I thank you deeply for this signal honour. I on my part will not only continue but intensify the effort that I have been making to project the work of the Panel to the outside world.

Heartiest congratulations and deep thanks for your outstanding achievement.

Yours sincerely,

Patchy

***

"
[endofquote]

Rodel has also won other major awards in the past which include (1) "Ten Outstanding Young Scientists Award" given by the National Academy of Science and Technology of the Philippines, and (2) "Gawad Lagablab" (for Outstanding PSHS Alumni) given by the Philippine Science High School Alumni Association.

I will feature Rodel in another blog entry in the future.

Meanwhile, below is a copy of the IPCC press release (Source: http://www.ipcc.ch/press/prpnp12oct07.htm)


IPCC expresses surprise and gratitude at announcement of Nobel Peace Prize

Geneva, 12 October 2007 - The awarding of the Nobel peace prize to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (jointly with former US Vice-President Al Gore) is a remarkable testament to the dedication and commitment of the thousands of experts and participants who have produced the Panel's rigorous and comprehensive assessments of climate change research.

"This is an honour that goes to all the scientists and authors who have contributed to the work of the IPCC, which alone has resulted in enormous prestige for this organization and the remarkable effectiveness of the message that it contains" - says Mr. Rajendra Pachauri, the Chairman of the IPCC.

"It is the most significant recognition that the IPCC has received for providing policymakers with objective and balanced information about the causes and impacts of climate change and possible response measures" - says Renate Christ, the Secretary of the IPCC.

Hundreds of authors from all regions of the planet have devoted an incredible amount of time and labour to writing and reviewing the reports. None of them has been paid for their time.
The IPCC assessments are based on peer-reviewed scientific and technical literature. The IPCC reports are written by teams of authors from all over the world who are recognized experts in their field. They represent relevant disciplines as well as differing scientific perspectives. This global coverage of expertise, the interdisciplinary nature of the IPCC team, and the transparency of the process, constitute the Panel's strongest assets.

"The IPCC's doors are open to every expert who is qualified and willing to make a contribution as author or reviewer" says Renate Christ. "This voluntary network of thousands of scientists and experts is what makes the IPCC truly unique."

The number of experts involved in the IPCC process has expanded considerably since the Panel was created in 1988. The procedures governing the writing and approval process have also become increasingly rigorous and transparent. This has been the key to enabling the IPCC to connect the very different cultures and requirements of the scientific and political worlds.

"The IPCC's strength lies in the processes and procedures that it follows. Most important is its ability of carrying out rigorous scientific assessment, which undergoes the scrutiny of government representatives and therefore is accepted by governments. There is no other body in the world that is able to meet these twin objectives simultaneously," says Mr. Rajendra Pachauri.

The IPCC was created almost 20 years ago to response to growing concern about the risk of anthropogenic climate change. The General Assembly of the United Nations asked the two UN bodies most engaged in the issue, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme, to set up this Panel to provide balanced, objective policy advice.

The First Assessment Report of 1990 was submitted to the UN General Assembly, which responded by formally recognizing that climate change required global action and launched the negotiations that led to the adoption of the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

In one exact month from now, the IPCC Plenary will meet in Valencia, Spain, to adopt the fourth and final volume of its "Climate Change 2007" assessment report. This short and extremely readable "Synthesis Report", explicitly targeted to policymakers, represents the final step in integrating and presenting the enormous amounts of scientific information contained in the three volumes released earlier this year. The Synthesis Report will be launched on 17 November.

Mr. Rajendra Pachauri of India was elected Chairman of the IPCC in 2002. He succeeded Robert Watson of the UK (1997 - 2002) and Bert Bolin of Sweden (1988 - 1997). During his Chairmanship, Mr. Pachauri, regarded as an effective team builder, has emphasized the world-wide coverage and interdisciplinary nature of the IPCC work.

-----------------------

Congratulations, Rodel! Our batch (PSHS '77) is very proud of you and your achievements.

Cheers,

Raffy
The Pisay '77 Blogger
10/13/07

Congratulations, Dr. Catherine Vistro-Yu

(Photo caption: WOMEN POWER: (Left to right, standing) Elizabeth Lee, Hilly Anne Maria Roa-Quiaoit, Alyssa Peleo-Alampay, Philippine Daily Inquirer president Alexandra “Sandy” Prieto-Romualdez, Eva Ma. Cutiongco-de la Paz; (2nd row) Catherine Vistro-Yu, Ma. Corazon de Ungria (3rd row) Glecy Cruz-Atienza, Maria Ressa and Dina Ocampo. RODEL ROTONI. From Philippine Daily Inquirer)

I read on the Philippine Daily Daily Inquirer today (10/12/07) that my colleague in the Mathematics Department of Ateneo de Manila University, Dr. Catherine "Cathy" Vistro-Yu, is one of the recipients of this year's Ten Outstanding Women in the Nations's Service (TOWNS).

(See: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=93973 )

[startofquote]

Cathy was cited for raising the standards of the “deteriorating” teaching of math in the country. “We teachers get flak for the poor achievements of students in math. But both [female] and male teachers are really working to create a framework, which is a big step in standardizing math teaching,” she said.

[endofquote]

Cathy is actively involved in mathematics education. She is President of the Philippine Council for Mathematics Teachers Educators (MATHTED).

Congratulations, Cathy!

Cheers,

Raffy
10/12/07

Message From The DLSU-Canlubang President (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007)

(Photo Caption: A statue of St. La Salle inside De La Salle Canlubang. Photo by Raffy Saldaña.)

.

Note: It is seven days to go before the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 (First Philippine National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition. Below is a welcome message from Br. Joaquin S. Martinez, President of De La Salle Canlubang, this year's host institution for the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007... Raffy, 10/12/07)

MESSAGE


Welcome to De La Salle Canlubang.

We are most privileged to host the First National Inter-Collegiate Programming Competition (ACM ICPC Philippines 2007).

As a national competition among the best Computer Science majors in the country that would select the contestants to be sponsored to the regional competition in Singapore and eventually the world finals in Alberta, Canada, the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 is a veryworthwhile project.

Barely 5 years old, De La Salle Canlubang is happy to be a part of ICPC 2007.

I congratulate the Computing Society of the Philippines (CSP) for organizing the event in cooperation with such a prestigious organization as the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM).

Education is one essential key to moving the country forward. Being the science and technology campus of the De La Salle Philippines, with a Lasallian education tradition that is turning 100 years in the year 2011, we look forward to joining hands with the CSP, ACM, and the many universities in the country in being at the forefront of computer science educationand research.

I hope that the ACM ICPC Philippines 2007 would facilitate educational experiences that will help Computer Science majors in their future careers as much as helping our country achieve prosperity for everyone.

In St La Salle,

Br. Joaquin S. Martinez FSC, D. Min.
President, De La Salle Canlubang