DOT urges tourists, travelers to immerse themselves in country's Lenten practices

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00:00A laid-back, low-slung Lenten Wednesday afternoon, folks and friends.

00:08Yours truly, Denise Osorio here for PTV News Now, kicking off our afternoon stories at the hour.

00:14Halfway into the Holy Week, Tourism Chief Christina Frasco urged travelers and tourists from within and out of the country

00:20to immerse themselves deeper into the country's traditions and practices during the long Lenten break.

00:25In her Lenten message to the public earlier today, Frasco bared her Lenten message,

00:30wishing all and sundry peace, self-examination, and spiritual reawakening.

00:35She said Lent is a profound period for Filipinos to reflect and renew themselves spiritually on matters of faith and their being.

00:43Likewise, she reminded all those taking trips out of town or traveling to their home provinces to practice responsible tourism,

00:50pay respects to local customs and traditions, and patronize local businesses and workers.

00:56Department of Tourism projections on tourist and traveler count are rosy as the pace and volume of movement in and out of airports,

01:04seaports, provincial bus terminals continue to pick up.

01:07The DOT forecasts an estimated and combined local and foreign tourist count, reaching 30 million for this year's Lenten long holiday.

01:15Expect better days ahead for air traffic and passenger activity in Clark Airport in Pampanga

01:23with a management and maintenance deal inked yesterday between the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines

01:29and the Basis Conversion and Development Authority.

01:31The deal authorizes CAAP with full control on operations and maintenance of Clark International Airport's communications,

01:38navigation and surveillance, or air traffic management facilities.

01:42CAAP's appointment or designation to handle CNS-ATM facilities assures safety and efficiency

01:48in the management of air traffic in and out of Clark International Airport.

01:52The CNS-ATM system allows aircraft to transmit pinpoint locations for takeoffs, landings, and air traffic control.

02:00Meanwhile, the BCDA, as owner of the facility, will pick up the tab for upkeep of ancillary equipment and procurement of parts.

02:08The recent discovery of natural biological processes to power and control devices from afar could help farmers maximize their yields.

02:20VOA's Cain Farable fills us in with more.

02:23One of the biggest challenges for Mount Pulaski, Illinois, farmer Tom Martin is understanding the quality of the soil in the fields where his corn and soybeans grow.

02:32It's one of the basics of our profitability, to be able to know what's in our soils to be able to grow our crops.

02:39Testing in the past, for me, has been unreliable.

02:42That information influences how much fertilizer Martin might need to buy.

02:47But using technology to gather data, deep in the middle of his fields,

02:51far away from sources of electricity and underneath growing crops blocking the sun's solar energy,

02:57Martin's biggest obstacle in analyzing the soil is powering devices that gather information.

03:03I look and see that if there's other new technology to help us do a better job at understanding what's going on in our soils.

03:12I knew that there was a need for more cheap and accessible and easy to use, basically, agricultural soil health sensors.

03:21Laura Jalif is a postgraduate research student at Northwestern University.

03:25She's been working on a device that doesn't need a battery and works almost anywhere, in any condition, day or night.

03:32It's meant to address the challenge of soil health sensing in agriculture.

03:37The microbial fuel cell Jalif works with is the creation of Northwestern University student Bill Yen.

03:43So all we're doing is we're putting a device there that can grab all these electrons that these microbes release,

03:50and then we're using that to channel into our electronic devices to create our source of power.

03:55Researchers first discovered microbes could naturally produce electricity as early as 1911.

04:01But only recent advances, like the soil sensors Yen and Jalif developed, are beginning to show the technology is viable.

04:08The overall motivation for this is really to push intelligence beyond the grid.

04:14Yen says the microbial fuel cell powers sensors that supply information to artificial intelligence,

04:19which helps provide a better understanding of the overall environment.

04:23Yen's device is adapted for different soil conditions to get maximum use.

04:28The technology is simple to create, open source, and can be constructed using a 3D printer.

04:34This is an anode and a cathode.

04:36So we have two pieces of electrode that we made out of carbon felt.

04:39So these can be things that you can make from really plant matter.

04:43So you can make carbon felt anywhere in the world just by processing biomass.

04:48The natural power of microbes doesn't produce enough electricity to power cell phones or personal devices.

04:54It only creates about 200 microwatts of energy.

04:57Making them bigger also doesn't create more power.

05:00You can't just make it twice as big, expect to get twice the amount of power.

05:03But it's just enough to give farmer Tom Martin information that could save him a significant amount of money

05:09when it's time to apply fertilizer to his fields.

05:12And it's not just a fertilizer. It's everything. Fuel, labor.

05:16With the information the microbial fuel cell can provide,

05:19Martin isn't just helping his finances by reducing fertilizer use.

05:23He's also helping the environment.

05:25Kane Fairbaugh, VOA News, Mount Pulaski, Illinois.

05:27So that's a wrap for this afternoon's show.

05:34Join us and you later on for our News Break Evening Edition

05:36and make it a habit to always tune in for stories you can count on, news you can trust.

05:42This is Denise Osorio and thank you for watching PTV News Now.

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