This study explores the feasibility of using lignocellulosic waste and cellulosic fibers from corn husks in the production of green composites, with orthophthalic unsaturated polyester (ortho-UP) resin as a matrix. Lignocellulose was extracted from corn husk fibers by alkali treatment using 1M NaOH, and the dried lignocellulose extract was characterized using FTIR spectroscopy. Composites containing varying weight fractions of lignocellulose, treated fibers and ortho-UP were fabricated, and the tensile and flexural strengths and moduli were measured. Based on the results, it was observed that the composite containing 15wt% fiber possesses the highest tensile modulus, while the one with 20wt% lignocellulose showed the highest flexural modulus. The composites were also subjected to scanning electron microscopy to examine the fracture surfaces of the composites. Furthermore, the water sorption behavior of the composites was also studied, and it was observed that all the composites obey Fickian diffusion.
Natural zeolites such as mordenite are excellent adsorbents for heavy metals. To enhance the adsorption capacity of zeolite, sodium-exchanged samples were irradiated with 13.56 MHz capacitively coupled radio frequency (RF) argon gas discharge. Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] was used as the test heavy metal. Pristine and plasma-treated zeolite samples were soaked in 50 mg/L Cr solution and the amount of adsorbed Cr(VI) on the zeolites was calculated at predetermined time intervals. Compared with untreated zeolite samples, initial Cr(VI) uptake was 70% higher for plasma-treated zeolite granules (50 W 30 min) after 1 h of soaking. After 24 h, all plasma-treated zeolites showed increased Cr(VI) uptake. For a 2- to 4-month period, Cr(VI) uptake increased about 130% compared with untreated zeolite granules. X-ray diffraction analyses between untreated and treated zeolite samples revealed no major difference in terms of its crystal structure. However, for plasma-treated samples, an increase in the number of surface defects was observed from scanning electron microscopy images. This increase in the number of surface defects induced by plasma exposure played a crucial role in increasing the number of active sorption sites on the zeolite surface.
Documents reveal that, in recent times, some of the most prominent conflicts in fishing on Batan Island in Batanes in northern Philippines stem from interest in new ‘driftnet’ technology for catching flying fish. On closer investigation, these in essence consist of challenges to the fishing calendar that is traditionally enforced by collectivities of fishers belonging to particular ‘ports’ or vanua. A vanua denotes a particular landing spot, as well as a port-polity, which is a group of fishers that is organized, and has laws and a leader, that is assembled by means of ritual at the beginning of the summer fishing season. If one sees ‘vanua making’ as a ritual technology for collective success, what is really at issue in the conflicts between ‘traditional’ and new or ‘modern’ technologies are distinct common property regimes and opposed landscapes: a traditional notion of community and a cooperative framework for the commons, on the one hand, coming into conflict with a modern view of atomized fishers and an ‘open’ sea, on the other.
During the past decades, the complexity of conventional methods to perform seismic performance assessment of buildings led to the development of more effective approaches. The rigid body spring-discrete element method (RBS-DEM) is one of these approaches and has recently been applied to the study of the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings subjected to strong earthquakes. In this paper, the governing equations of RBS-DEM planar elements subjected to lateral loads and horizontal ground motion are presented and used to replicate the hysteretic behavior of experimental RC columns. The RBS-DEM models of columns are made up of rigid components connected by systems of springs that simulate axial, shear, and bending behavior of an RC section. The parameters of springs were obtained using Response-2000 software and the hysteretic response of the models of select columns from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Structural Performance Database were computed numerically. Numerical examples show that one-component models were able to simulate the initial stiffness reasonably, while the displacement capacity of actual columns undergoing large displacements were underestimated.
This study replicates and extends a teaching intervention study by Battle (2004) on the use of advocacy symbols to promote awareness of anti- LGBT stigma among university students. Seventy-one Filipino students in three university campuses taking an undergraduate course in LGBT psychology were given a task as a course requisite to wear an “I w Lesbian and Gay Rights” pin across different settings. Analysis of students’ reflection papers revealed themes related to stigma consciousness, intergroup empathy, allyship sentiments, and transformative learning. Experiences of nonverbal and verbal microaggressions, especially in the private sphere, as well as microvalidations from LGBT people and heterosexual allies were also reported.
Inihaharap ng papel ang ilangkritikalnatala sa Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Pilipino (DWP) ni Rosendo Ignacio na inilimbag noong 1958 ng Samar Publishing, Co. Sa pagkilates sa mga estruktural na katangian sa iba’t ibang antas: mega-, macro-, micro-, cross-reference structure, atbp. at isinasaad na punsiyon ng DWP, dumudulog ang pag-aaral na ito sa mga establisadong prinsipyo ng kontemporaneong leksikograpiya at kritisismong pandiksiyonaryo. Sa antas na ito ng analisis ay lumilitaw na may mga pagkukulang ang DWP bilang isang diksiyonaryong nakatuon sa mga mag-aaral ng mababa at mataas na paaralan, i.e. may tahasang nakasaad na pedagohikal na punsiyon. Kakikitaan din ng ilang kontradiksiyon sa isinaad na metodolohiya at teoretikal na lapit ng DWP sa realisasyon nito sa aktuwal na mga katangian ng diksiyonaryo gaya ng ortograpiya, pagpili ng lemma, atbp.
Bagamat nakatuon sa estruktura, nakaangkla pa rin ang lahat ng obserbasyon, puna, at ebalwasyon sa mga kongkretong historikal na kondisyon at konteksto ng pagkakasulat at pagkakalimbag sa DWP: ang mga panimulang yugto sa kasaysayan ng pagsusulong ng Wikang Pambansa na ngayo’y tinatawag na Filipino.
Mga susing salita: Rosendo Ignacio, leksikograpiya, diksiyonaryong pedagohikal, Wikang Pambansa, polisiyang pangwika
This paper forwards some critical notes on Rosendo Ignacio’s Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Pilipino (DWP) published in 1958 by Samar Publishing, Co. In analyzing its structural characteristics on multiple levels: mega-, macro-, micro-, cross-reference structure, etc. and also the stated purpose of the DWP, the study subscribes to established principles of contemporary lexicography and dictionary criticism. On this level of analysis, it is apparent that the DWP is lacking in certain respects as a dictionary intended for use at the primary and tertiary levels, i.e. a dictionary that has an explicitly-stated pedagogical function. Several contradictions are also identified in terms of methodology and the theoretical framework of the DWP vis-à-vis the realization of these in the actual characteristics of the dictionary such as its orthography, lemma selection, etc.
Although focused on structure, all observations, critiques, and evaluations are grounded on concrete historical conditions and the context in which the DWP was written and published: the initial phases in the history of the development of the National Language which we now call Filipino.
Keywords: Rosendo Ignacio, lexicography, pedagogical dictionaries, National Language, language policy
This paper presents an account of the initial developments towards an LGBT psychology in the Philippines. We situate this on critical events leading to: (1) an official policy by the Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP) against anti-LGBT discrimination in 2011, the first in south-east Asia; and (2) the institutionalisation in 2014 of the PAP’s LGBT Psychology Special Interest Group. Organising efforts have focused in four areas: research, education, advocacy, and practice. National conferences have served as naturally occurring moments for mainstreaming and visibility within the profession. Research progress is evidenced by the publication in 2013 of a special LGBT issue of the Philippine Journal of Psychology. Education efforts have involved teaching an undergraduate elective on LGBT psychology, training of psychology teachers to integrate sexual and gender diversity, and conduct of ‘LGBT Psych 101’ seminars. Advocacy has focused on ‘giving away’ LGBT psychology through engagement with the activist community, media, and support for anti-discrimination legislation. Finally, initial work in professional practice has been around raising awareness of LGBT issues in counselling. We reflect on these initial successes and present lessons learned as well as next steps for the development of an LGBT-inclusive psychology in south-east Asia.
In December 2013, the Philippine Journal of Psychology published
a landmark special issue focusing on the lives, experiences, and wellbeing
of gender and sexual minorities in the Philippines. It was the
first and only peer-reviewed publication of its kind in Asia to focus
on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender psychology (Manalastas &
Torre, 2016). Now, we can happily revise and say it is not the only one, nor the
last.
Aquaculture presents a radically different way of producing fish that aims to transcend the limitations of capture fisheries but that in turn creates new forms of agrarian and ecological transformations. Using the case of Laguna Lake, the paper probes how aquaculture production and corresponding agrarian transformations are inextricably tied to dynamics in capture fisheries in multiple ways. It emphasizes the fundamentally ecological nature of the relations between aquaculture and capture fisheries through a discussion of three interrelated features of agrarian change: commodity widening through the production of a commodity frontier, aquaculture producer strategies of working with materiality of biophysical nature, and the attendant consequences of these processes for agrarian configurations. By examining the appropriation of nature in commodity frontiers and situating relations between aquaculture and capture fisheries as historical-geographical moments in commodity widening and deepening, the paper highlights the centrality of nature in agrarian change.
Generally, this book is a reflection of the relationship between religion and theater. Particularly, it looks at the relationship of Catholicism and performance or the embodied world of theater in opposition to the written text. In investigating this relationship, two inquiries are identified. First, it is proposed that performance may be looked at as an analogy for the understanding of Catholicism. Second, the link between Catholicism and performance is ontological. In other words, this book is an inquiry on Catholicism “as” a performance and an assertion that it “is” a performance. To illustrate the as/is in the relationship of Catholicism and performance, three Catholic rituals or cultural performances in the province of Pampanga are used as examples: pamamaku king krus, libad nang Apung Iru, and kuraldal nang Apung Lucia.
In this essay, entanglement is proposed as a conceptual idiom for the understanding of contemporary Manila theater where pista (fiesta) is used as model and Rizal X as example. Contemporary Manila theater via Rizal X is argued to be part of an intricate entanglement: representations, shared histories, relationships and genres, which are all activated during a pista. Rizal X is used as an example because it strategically puts entanglement in an affirmative position. More specifically, Rizal X is treated as a microcosm of the pista because it has entangled representations, histories, relationships, and genres in the same way that the pista performs such entanglement. Nonetheless, the idea of entanglement often carries a negative connotation. Despite the promise of entanglement as a possible idiom towards the identification of an ontology of contemporary Manila theater, entanglement has its own limitations, especially since many artists unintentionally overuse entanglement (i.e., pastiche, fragments) in their theater. Because of such complication, there is a tendency for theater works to unintentionally editorialize their chosen subjects. In conducting a close reading of Rizal X, it is envisioned to illustrate the limitations of entanglement as a discursive concept for the understanding of contemporary Manila theater.
Aquaculture, a modern scheme introduced by the Philippine state to improve fish production and livelihoods, has resulted in contradictory outcomes in its four-decade history in Laguna de Bay. This article examines the fate and trajectories of these modern schemes through the lens of hazards. It situates the place of typhoons and floods in the introduction and regulation of pen aquaculture technology, and in the practices of living with hazards among aquaculture producers in the lake. In both cases hazards are considered as intrinsic to their narratives rather than as external forces that occasionally disrupt human plans.
Using archival data from a national survey of N=8,891 young Filipina women ages 15 to 24, this paper aimed to examine links between sexual-minority status and thinking about and attempting suicide. Similar to previous results from young Filipino men and to findings in the global LGBT mental health literature, sexual-minority status was associated with both suicide ideation and suicide attempt across measures of same-sex attraction and same-sex romantic relationships. Sexual-minority Filipina youth had higher odds of having thought about suicide and having attempted suicide, compared to heterosexual peers. Following a minority stress framework, this paper explored a number of correlates of suicide ideation and attempt, including normative risk factors such as depression, recent suicide attempt of a friend, and experiences of threat and victimization.
A review of 'The Poverty of Television: The Mediation of Suffering in Class-Divided Philippines' by Jonathan Corpus Ong (2015), London & NY: Anthem Press
