Bohol Island State University

This study examined the relationship between teacher retention and spirituality among 221 randomly selected teachers within the Bohol Association of Catholic Schools (BACS, Bohol, Philippines. Utilizing a descriptive-quantitative design, data were collected via survey questionnaires and analyzed using weighted mean and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The demographic profile revealed a majority of young, female, permanently employed baccalaureate holders with an average of five years of service. Results indicate a high level of spirituality among respondents, characterized by a personal connection to God and a commitment to the school’s religious mission. Furthermore, a significant correlation was established between spirituality and teacher retention. Key findings highlight that integrating faith-based values into the curriculum and providing spiritual support systems are primary drivers for retention. Additional factors contributing to faculty stability include a supportive school culture, professional development, and manageable workloads. The study concludes that teachers are more likely to remain when their spiritual values align with the institution's mission. Recommendations include reinforcing faith-based integration and spiritual support to enhance long-term teacher commitment.

Classroom environment plays a crucial role in shaping student learning outcomes, where even changes such as the removal of classroom design elements can significantly affect student motivation. As such, this study determined the perception of Grade 4 learners on the removal of classroom designs and their relation to their learning motivation. It mainly determined the correlation between learners' perception of the removal of classroom design and their level of learning motivation at Bogtongbod Elementary School, Clarin, Bohol, for the academic year 2024–2025. Using a descriptive-correlational survey design and total population sampling, the study gathered 46 Grade 4 students as respondents. It revealed that the majority were aged 10–11 years old, and more were non-achievers than achievers. It showed that learners generally perceived the removal of classroom design positively and maintained a motivated attitude toward learning. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the learners’ age and academic achievement in their perception and motivation. However, the study found a significant positive correlation between the perception of removing classroom design and learning motivation. Guided by the Constructivist Learning Theory by Jean Piaget, the study suggests that active engagement with learning materials, supported by a distraction-free environment, promotes higher student motivation. It is recommended that schools continue to create environments that minimize unnecessary distractions to enhance learning motivation and student engagement.

Akkermansia muciniphila is a mucin-degrading gut bacterium linked to metabolic health, yet culture-based growth stimulation may not translate to sustained enrichment in vivo. Odontosoria biflora (“tubho”) is traditionally consumed in the Philippines as a herbal tea, but its extract-level activity toward A. muciniphila remains poorly characterized. O. biflora was sequentially extracted (hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, aqueous) and screened for growth-supporting activity toward A. muciniphila in modified BHI under anaerobic conditions. The most active fraction (hexane; OBE HEX) was evaluated for acute oral tolerability in BALB/c mice according to OECD Tesy No. 423 (up to 2000 mg/kg) and subsequently assessed in a high-fat/high-sugar diet plus alloxan-induced diabetic model. Fecal A. muciniphila-specific qPCR signal was monitored at weeks 0, 1, 2, and 4 using a modified 2−ΔΔCt approach with external ATCC genomic DNA as a reference. OBE-HEX produced the strongest in vitro growth-supporting effect (56.43% at 250 mg/L, p < 0.05; 85.62% at 500 mg/L, p < 0.001) and showed no observable toxicity in vivo. In contrast, in vivo analysis revealed only transient changes in fecal A. muciniphila detection following OBE-HEX administration, whereas sustained elevation was observed only in metformin-treated mice. Untargeted UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS analysis of OBE-HEX yielded putative identification of 2-O-rhamnosylvitexin and 7-methoxy-9,10-dihydrophenanthrene-2,5-diol. Overall, these findings demonstrate that while O. biflora hexane extract exhibits direct growth-supporting activity toward A. muciniphila in vitro and is orally tolerable, such effects do not translate into sustained in vivo enrichment under diabetic conditions, underscoring the limitations of extrapolating culture-based microbiota screening results to host-associated systems.

Accurate localization of lumbar vertebrae in sagittal radiographs is a fundamental prerequisite for quantitative spine analysis, yet manual annotation is laborintensive and prone to inter-observer variability. This study presents a transfer learning-based computer vision framework for automated lumbar vertebrae localization in sagittal lumbar spine X-ray images. The dataset comprises radiographs from a proprietary cohort of Honduran patients with spondylolisthesis and the publicly available BUU-LSPINE dataset, restricted to sagittal views. Vertebrae from L3 to S1 were annotated using bounding boxes to enable supervised vertebral localization. The proposed model leverages pretrained feature representations and multi-scale detection to robustly capture vertebral structures under varying anatomical presentations and imaging conditions. Experimental results demonstrate stable convergence and strong localization performance across the evaluated datasets, with qualitative analyses confirming anatomically consistent vertebral detection. As validation was limited to the available data sources and acquisition settings, further evaluation on larger and more diverse cohorts is necessary to establish broader robustness and generalizability. The findings support the feasibility of automated lumbar vertebral localization and provide a foundation for subsequent quantitative spine analysis.

Employee attrition remains a critical challenge for organizations, leading to productivity loss and increased replacement costs. This study develops a machine learning framework to predict employee attrition, enhanced through domain-driven feature engineering. Using a publicly available HR dataset, we introduced four novel indicators—the Attrition Risk Score, Engagement Score, Income-to-Experience Ratio, and Commuting Stress Index that encapsulate key drivers of turnover such as engagement, compensation fairness, and work-life balance. A supervised learning pipeline was implemented and evaluated on five classification models. Among these, Logistic Regression achieved the strongest overall performance with 91.3% accuracy, an F1-score of 0.91, and a ROC-AUC of 0.963. The engineered features significantly improved predictive capacity and interpretability, with the Attrition Risk Score emerging as the most influential predictor. Results demonstrate that combining feature engineering with machine learning not only enhances model performance but also provides actionable insights for HR managers. Future work will extend this framework to broader datasets and real-world organizational settings.

This study aims to develop a material from waste low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) into a medium-density board and assess its mechanical and physical properties. The development starts with degreasing the upcycled plastic sheets, stacking using premixed polyester resin as an adhesive, pressing, and laminating. The specimens are sent to the Department of Science and Technology Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST-ITDI) standards and testing division to determine the material’s mechanical and physical properties. The findings reveal that the medium-density board successfully combines LDPE and HDPE waste, achieving tensile, flexural, and compressive strengths of 12.1 MPa, 24.2 MPa, and 14.5 MPa, respectively. The board is suitable for shaded outdoor use but not for continuous immersion as it shows a heat deflection temperature of 57.8 ℃ and 1.27% water absorption after 24 hours. Therefore, it is a potential substitute for furniture, home decor, and light construction materials.

The ability to read and count is a crucial skill that students today must develop. Failure to develop these skills results in poor functioning in the society in which they live. This study aimed to capture the reading and numeracy struggles and gaps of students in a public school in the Philippines. Specifically, it examines the gap between students’ reading and numeracy challenges and the expected proficiency levels as measured by the Philippine Informal Reading Inventory (PHIL-IRI). A mixed-methods design using a parallel-convergence approach was employed to collect and analyze the data. The quantitative data were obtained using the documentary method from the PHIL-IRI results. In contrast, the qualitative data were gathered through an in-depth interview with the purposefully selected eight (8) participants. These participants demonstrated difficulties in both reading and numeracy, as indicated by PHILI IRI results. The responses were coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. The analysis of the findings reveals that 30 students are at the frustration level in reading literacy, whereas the same number are at the intervention level in numeracy. The data shows that several students have poor reading and numeracy skills. The qualitative analysis also reveals students' weak foundations in reading and numeracy. This gap has also hindered their development of other micro-competencies, including comprehension, pronunciation, and basic arithmetic operations. Despite these difficulties, they demonstrate strong self-motivation and perseverance, supported by friends, teachers, and family members, particularly their parents. This situation may hinder their ability to function in the future, leading to unemployment. Strengthening early literacy and numeracy instruction, improving remedial programs, and promoting family involvement can help students build confidence and achieve better learning outcomes.

Educational tours play an important part in enhancing students' learning experiences by providing hands-on exposure to real-world applications of academic concepts. This study explores how educational tours influence the learning and professional growth of Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management (BSHM) students at a state university in Bohol. Using a descriptive-evaluative research design, the researchers collected responses from 62 students who participated in the 2024–2025 educational tour. Data were collected through a validated survey and analyzed using frequency distributions, percentages, weighted means, and thematic analysis. The results showed that educational tours were “very impactful” in enhancing students’ learning outcomes (WM=3.82), knowledge retention (WM=3.77), and professional development (WM=3.80). Students shared that their tour experiences deepened their understanding of hospitality concepts, improved their practical and communication skills, and strengthened their readiness for real-world industry work. They also demonstrated better recall of customer service principles, hygiene practices, and operational standards. However, the findings suggest that applying theoretical knowledge and problem-solving in actual settings still needs more focus. The study concludes that educational tours play a vital role in bridging classroom learning with real-life experiences, helping students think critically, adapt easily, and build confidence in their future careers. The study suggests enhancing how educational tours are planned, better preparing faculty members, and building stronger partnerships with the hospitality industry so students can gain more meaningful, real-world experiences that help them become confident, career-ready professionals.

&lt;p&gt;This study assessed the teaching performance of Mathematics teachers, student motivation, and the academic performance of Grade nine students at a public high school in Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines utilizing a descriptive-correlational research design. There were 248 respondents who were chosen to participate in the study through simple random sampling. The data gathered were treated using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that Mathematics teachers have very good performance in planning, development and results. Moreover, students demonstrated a high level of motivation towards learning Mathematics. However, most of them have only satisfactory performance in Mathematics. Notably, there was a significant weak positive relationship between teacher performance and students’ mathematics performance, at the same time, significant weak positive relationship between students’ motivation and Mathematics performance. These findings underscore the need for strategic interventions to further enhance Mathematics teaching and learning outcomes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Article visualizations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/-counters-/soc/0856/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Apart from being hailed as the country's first UNESCO Global Geopark, Bohol is also recognized for its efforts to preserve its rich cultural heritage despite adapting to modernization. This study uses discourse analysis to analyze the dominant endemic cultural heritage featured in Bol-anon narratives using Folklore Theory and Post-Colonial Theory. The study reveals that healing arts are observed in shamanic ritual performances and using anting-anting. It also illustrates that folk beliefs weave a vibrant cultural tapestry featuring mythical creatures such as santilmo, ungu, wuwog, tambaloslos, engkanto, wakwak, and sigbin. It also describes Bol-anon's strong religious veneration, showing their profound devotion to the Christian faith. Having folkloric spirituality and a strong Christian faith establishes a complex belief system that reflects the resilience of Bol-anon in adapting to changing circumstances while preserving core cultural identities. The identity as Bol-anon is a foundation to maintain true Bol-anon character and foster harmony within their community. Since they serve as vessels freighted with social beliefs and values for the future, there is also a need to evaluate Gen-Z's perception of cultural preservation amid globalization.