Publications

Hydrogels are hydrophilic polymers that can swell and absorb water without dissolving, provided that chemical or physical crosslinks exist among the macromolecular chains. The hydrogel can be derived from synthetic and natural polymers, the latter having desirable properties such as biocompatibility and biodegradation that do not produce adverse and reproductive and developmental effects. The aim of this study was to synthesize a physical hydrogel from a water-soluble cellulose derivative and a solution of 6 wt% sodium hydroxide/5 wt% thiourea. Physical hydrogels (also called self-assembling hydrogels) are formed when macromolecules self-assemble through non-covalent, secondary molecular interactions such as hydrophobic, electrostatic, and H-bonding. Hydroxyethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, and microcrystalline cellulose were used in this study. A hydrogel made from hydroxyethyl cellulose containing weight percentages of 5, 7.5, 10, and 12.5 wt% in the sodium hydroxide/thiourea solution. Hydroxypropyl cellulose only formed a cloudy yellow solution while microcrystalline cellulose did not dissolve at all in the solution. The hydroxyethyl cellulose/ sodium hydroxide/thiourea hydrogels were then characterized according to its functional groups present, physical structure, and mechanical properties, and biocompatibility.

A collection of essays, this book attempts to continue the conversation on theater studies and performance studies in the context of Philippine scholarship. In the discussions, the trope of entablado is used as a central idiom. First, entablado refers to its literal meaning, as a space where a performance takes place. The space of the performance, however, is not only confined within the walls of an auditorium. It may also be in a street, a foyer of a huge cultural landmark, a river, or a school auditorium. Also, the space may not necessarily be a location exclusively for an artistic performance. It may be a space where people gather for the Divine, for entertainment, for a political protest, or for an academic conversation.Second, entablado is used here as a signpost for both ambivalence and exact possibility. The ambivalence is in the concept’s determinism, which, like entablado, has Hispanic origins, that seems to be suggestive of a need for an academic discipline in Philippine academia where the starting point is the space of entablado (theater and performance). As stated in the introduction of this book, theatre studies and performance studies as disciplines are emerging fields. By this emergence, there is an implicit invitation for the recognition of these disciplines as independent fields. In this regard, the entablado is a linage to the more traditional discipline of literary studies in which the stage is read as a cultural text. At the same time, it is also a departure from the literary paradigm to read the entablado as a cultural performance. This is where the possibilities of striking, initiating and beginning take place. The possibility of independence is implicit in the chapters, that there is something in the analyzed performances where the entablado (as a space) becomes a site for knowledge production and consumption. In particular, the possibility of the Filipino entablado as a starting point for socio-cultural and art theory may finally commence. Therefore, the possibility of entablado establishing a new paradigm in the humanities and the human sciences is not trivial but necessitates a reconceptualization of discipline: theater and performance studies.

Staged annually at the Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio Papet Teatro-Museo, Papet Pasyon is the onlysinakulo in the Philippines performed in puppetry to date. In this essay, the puppet play is proposed to be an entanglement of three cultural forms: the literary form of the pasyon, the theatre form of the sinakulo, and the art of puppetry. The bases for the text of this puppet play are foreign sources namely a children’s Bible from Europe, the passion play from Oberammergau in Germany, and the dramatic tradition of the Western musical. Though originally a Western-based text, Lapeña-Bonifacio crafted and encapsulated the puppet play into an hour and a half show that highlights the story of Christ’s passion, is written in a Philippine language, and is understandable to young audiences. Its manner of presentation, on the other hand, was inspired by the very rich puppet traditions of Asia, particularly the Japanese bunraku and the Indonesianwayang golek. The essay begins exploring this proposal of entanglement by introducing Amelia Lapeña-Bonifacio, founder of Teatrong Mulat, and her vision of a children’s theatre in the archipelago with productions based on and inspired by local folktales and various theatrical forms in the Asian region. This is then followed by a narrative on the genesis of Papet Pasyon, which like most Teatrong Mulat productions, is a product of mixing and matching local and foreign influences. The bulk of the paper is a preliminary analysis and a close reading of Papet Pasyon as a cultural text and performance of entanglement because, generally, the play is a concatenation of the pasyon, the sinakulo, and various forms of puppetry.

Composed of 40 essays written in Filipino, the book is divided into six chapters: Muni-muni (Reflection); Pera-pera (Money); Bola-bola (Deception); Bali-balita (News); Buhay-buhay (Life); at Suroy-suroy (Sightseeing). Arao said that there is a reason for composing the book's title and chapter titles in a way that certain words in Filipino are repeated twice. "Kailangan kasing gamitin ang pag-uulit ng ilang salita sa wikang Filipino para idiin ang isang mahalagang bagay --- patong-patong ang mga problemang kinakaharap ng ating mga mamamayan (There is a need to repeat certain words in the Filipino language to stress an important matter --- there is a plethora of problems being faced by the people)," he said.

The assumptions of constant characteristics across spatial locations and constant characteristics across time points facilitates estimation in a multivariate spatial-temporal model. A test based on the nonparametric bootstrap in proposed to verify these assumptions. The simulation studies confirm that the proposed test procedures are powerful and correctly sized.

Empirical studies in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health have documented significant disparities in risk behaviors and health outcomes across sexual orientation and gender identity. One such disparity lies in tobacco use. Surveys based on representative samples (Jabson, Farmer, & Bowen, 2014; Manalastas, 2012; Tang et al., 2004) as well as meta-analyses (Lee, Griffin & Melvin, 2009; Marshal et al., 2008) indicate that gender and sexual minorities generally have disproportionately higher rates of smoking than heterosexuals. This paper builds on previous research in the Philippines that presented initial evidence for cigarette smoking disparities among sexual-minority youth (Manalastas, 2012). We examine this issue again using a different nationally representative sample of Filipino men. Analysis of archival data from the National Demographic and Health survey Showed evidence for disparities in tobacco use based on sexual-minority status. Current smoking was disproportionately higher among sexual-minority men (67%) than heterosexual men (54%). Filipino sexual-minority men also began smoking significantly earlier—about a year—than heterosexual men. No differences in smoking volume was found—both sexual-minority and heterosexual Filipino male smokers smoked an average of 10-11 sticks a day. The findings point to one important disparity in Filipino LGBT health risks: the need to address the disproportionately higher uptake of tobacco use, one of the leading preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in the world, among sexual-minority Filipino men.

Despite the many documented benefits of exercise and physical activity on physical and psychological health, only a small percentage of Filipinos engages in regular exercise according to national surveys. Regular participation in leisure-time physical activities, such as exercise and sport, is positively associated with reduced anxiety and depression, enhanced mood and improved psychological well-being. Earlier studies have demonstrated that different motives may operate behind participation in various types of physical activity such as exercise (physical activity that is volitional, purposive and requires simple motor skills) versus sport (physical activity that is usually competitive, has organized rules and requires complex motor skills). In order to extend existing literature on sport and exercise psychology in the Philippine setting, motives for exercise participation versus sport engagement of Filipino university students were examined. Specifically, three hypotheses were tested: (1) That health and fitness motives are more associated with exercise than sport; (2) That motives concerning weight management and appearance are related more to exercise than sport, and (3) Motives related to social engagement figure in participation in sport more than in exercise. One hundred ninety-four university students from Metro Manila, Philippines completed two versions of the Exercise Motivation Inventory 2 (EMI-2, Kilpatrick et al. 2005, Markland & Ingledew 1997) to differentiate motives for exercise versus for sport participation. All three hypotheses were supported. Furthermore, enjoyment appeared to be an important factor in sport engagement. Implications for program design and physical activity promotion among Filipinos are also discussed.

This essay is a close reading of The Care Divas, a Filipino musical revolving around the struggle of five Filipino caregivers in Israel who also struggle with their sexual identities as bakla (Filipino homosexual). The analysis is both an affirmation and a critique of the performance. In the affirmation, the musical is argued to present a social reality that is intended for and in need of interrogation: the Filipino bakla. The musical implicitly features the bakla as a cosmopolitan. At the outset, this cosmopolitan disposition comes from the fact that the characters are migrant workers (caregivers). But more importantly, the cosmopolitan character is from a responsibility toward the other anchored within a genuine caring as implicated in the affective labor of these caregiver characters. In the critique, the essay marks some problematic limitations in the treatment of the bakla. In doing so, the musical, despite its attempt to present a social reality, is a problem play, a social drama touching social issues—realistic in approach, but the representation seems like an editorial. In the final analysis, The Care Divas is argued to seemingly fail because artists are not able to see the complexity of their chosen subject in a bigger picture.

We demonstrate molecular beam epitaxy growth of p-InAs layers on GaAs-buffered GaSb that may be suitable for terahertz applications. GaAs buffer deposition is initiated by applying growth interruption. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction shows that GaAs growth proceeds to a quasi-two-dimensional growth mode. The scheme allows growth of a p-InAs layer 600 nm to 1.0 µm thick. Growth performed without GaAs and growth interruption resulted in decomposition of the p-InAs. When the scheme is used, the ensuing p-InAs first follows quasi-two-dimensional growth before favoring faceted islanding. Under 800-nm-wavelength femtosecond laser excitation, the p-InAs layer generates terahertz signals 70% of that of bulk p-InAs.

Ang aklat na ito ay unang bahagi ng serye ng dalawang aklat na kritikal na pag-aaral sa pinagdaanang kasaysayan ng wikang pambansa ng Pilipinas. Sa unang bahagi ng serye, tinalunton ang naging papel ng mga institusyon, indibidwal, at grupo o mga samahan kaugnay ng pagbubuo ng bansa sa pamamagitan ng wikang pambansa, sa panahon ng Amerikano at Hapon, hanggang sa pagkakamit ng kalayaan noong 1946. Partikular na tinalagay dito ang papel ng mga indibidwal na Amerikano na hindi sumang-ayon sa patakarang pangwika ng gobyernong Amerikano sa Ingles, ang mga indibidwal na Pilipinong karamiha’y mga manunulat at peryodista, at mga samahang pangwika na nabuo sa panahong iyon bilang reaksiyon sa pagdomina ng Ingles lalo na sa larangan ng edukasyon. Naglista rin ng mga pahayagang nalimbag sa panahong iyon na tumalakay sa mga isyung pangwika. Ang bilang o dami ng mga pahayagang ito, di lang sa Pilipinas kundi maging sa Amerika ay nagpatunay na gintong panahon ng pamamahayag at pagsusulat ng mga saloobin at opinyon ang panahong ito.

One of the contentious phases in the formulation of a legislation is the period of interpellations. In this stage of the law-making process, proposed bills are scrutinized and revised by congressional actors, as each puts forward her/his respective ideas, interjections and/or expressions of support. As an institutional procedure, the period of interpellations is the stage where the dynamics of contention and compromise become evident through the interaction of the policy positions of lawmakers regarding the specific policy dimensions and issues which a certain bill raises.Policy positions require narratives that embody ideas, rationalizations and justifications of a dissenting or preferred stance towards issues. Needless to say, raising these during the committee and floor debates of a congressional body reflects how these positions are deemed important by policy actors. Suffice it to say that in the period of interpellations, multiple narratives interact in a discursive space where an ideas, concept and argument is either refuted and filtered out from a proposed bill, or is sustained enough to be authorized into a legislation. Interestingly, therefore, one may argue that any legislation represents a composite of narratives that have “survived” such a contentious condition. In this context, the proposed paper will discuss the rationalization of renewable energy in the Philippines, focusing on the policy positions and narratives which animated the formulation of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 (R.A. 9513) at the level of the Philippine Senate. It is argued that the emergence of contending policy positions is brought about by a priori "conditions of contentiousness" vis-a-vis how decision-makers view issues within policy dimensions. Utilizing mixed method conversation analysis of the documented floor debates during the period of interpellation, the paper will identify and discuss the policy dimensions and the issues of contention among decision-makers. The paper will also map the relationship and dynamics of these policy positions based on the substance and manner by which they were framed, argued and rationalized. Finally, the results of the analysis will be used to gather insights that explain the dominant and prevailing discourse(s) which serve as the foundation of this piece of legislation.