Satisfaction of Filipino Crop Farmers on Agricultural Credit

Agricultural credit is an important part of the broader Agribusiness, which is encompassing farming and farming-related commercial activities. Hence, the study determined the level of satisfaction of crop farmers on agricultural credit in two barangays San Juan and San Andres, Malvar, Batangas, with an end goal of enhancing agricultural credit management. Through descriptive method of research, the study revealed that majority of the farmers used to plant rice with a land area of 0.5 - 1.0 hectare that avail agricultural credit 2 to 3 times a year. Further, the level of satisfaction of crop farmers on agricultural credit along with documents/requirement, penalties and charges, interest rates, credit terms and conditions and repayment scheme are dissatisfied. This study offered recommendations, if properly implemented and actualized by concerned authorities, may ensure sustainable and accessible rural credit facilitation

Comparative Analysis of Traditional versus Authentic Teaching Method in DNA Extraction to Biology Students

DNA is the blueprint of life. Teaching Science, particularly DNA, is included in every Table of specifications mandated by the curriculum. Traditional method in teaching includes the use of lecture and utilizes pen and paper as a form of assessment. Authentic method on the other hand makes use of real life experience. The purpose of this study is to compare the effectivenessof teaching Science using the pen-and-paper strategy and authentic approach. This study uses DNA extraction as the topic. The researchers gathered 10 Biological Science students who were picked randomly from the reviewees of the review center. The first treatment involved using the traditional method in teaching by lecturing and the second treatment involved using the authentic method by showing the actual process of DNA extraction. Every after treatment, similar post tests were given to the respondents. The results are compared and data gathered are as follows: Mean of 5.4 for traditional and 7.6 for authentic. The median for traditional is 6 while 8 for authentic. The mode of the distribution for traditional is 6 and 8 for authentic. The data suggest that the students learned from authentic method of teaching Science better as compared to the use of traditional method. The results will be of help to teacher education institutions and the government in creating curriculum based on what strategy students learn best. The researchers recommend the replication and continuation of this study

Antivortices due to competing orbital and paramagnetic pair-breaking effects

Thermodynamically stable vortex-antivortex structures in a quasi-two-dimensional superconductor in a tilted magnetic field are predicted. For this geometry, both orbital and spin pair-breaking effects exist, with their relative strength depending on the tilt angle \Theta. The spectrum of possible states contains as limits the ordinary vortex state (for large \Theta) and the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state (for \Theta=0). The quasiclassical equations are solved near H_{c2} for arbitrary \Theta and it is shown that stable states with coexisting vortices and antivortices exist in a small interval close to \Theta=0. The results are compared with recent predictions of antivortices in mesoscopic samples.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Field Technical Assistance (FTA) Implementation in Public Elementary Schools; Division of Batangas Province

This study aimed to assess the Field Technical Assistance (FTA) Implementation in Public Elementary Schools in the Division of Batangas. Specifically, it determined the profile variables of the Field Technical Assistance providers, the extent of carrying out their role functions and responsibilities, level of competencies, degree of clients’ satisfaction relative to FTA provided, and issues and problems encountered relative to FTA. It also determined the difference on FTA providers’ assessments when grouped according to profile variables. The study made use of the descriptive method with the questionnaire, focus group discussion, and interview as the data gathering instruments. The research participants were 34 district supervisors, 237 school heads, and 378 teachers from public elementary schools in the division of Batangas who were randomly selected. The statistical tools utilized were frequency, percentage, ranking, weighted mean, t-test, f-test or ANOVA (Analysis of Variance).Results from the study revealed that majority of the Field Technical Assistance providers were females with 21-30 years in service, BEED/BSED Graduates with MA units, and attended trainings/seminars on orientations in Field Technical Assistance Implementation, utilization of Results-Based Performance Monitoring System (RPMS), and School Based Management (SBM).The Field Technical Assistance providers moderately carried out role functions and responsibilities. The Field Technical Assistance providers had moderate level of competencies. The clients experienced moderate satisfaction level relative to the assistance provided by FTA providers.Hypothesis testing revealed that the assessments of the district supervisors differ when grouped according to length of service, educational attainment, and nature of trainings and seminars attended, however the sex had no effect on their assessments. The assessments of the school heads differ when grouped according to sex, length of service, educational attainment, and nature of trainings and seminars attended.The study also showed that the district supervisors encountered problems and issues relative to insufficiency of term of reference, mechanism and framework of FTA, insufficiency of capacity building program, and apprehensive attitude of the clients while the school heads encountered issues and problems relative to insufficiency of financial and material resources and attitude of the clients. Based from the findings and conclusions of the study, the proposed performance coaching plan contained coaching target goals, areas of concern, strategic activities, and coaching feedback mechanism framework which when properly implemented could enhance FTA implementation. The study also recommended the proposed performance coaching plan for Field Technical Assistance Providers which could be endorsed to proper authorities for utilization. Capacity building programs should be continuously enhanced to strengthen the competencies of FTA providers specifically on research, interpersonal skills, and communication skills. A similar study may be conducted to explore other aspects of Technical Assistance Provision

Temperature dependence of the upper critical field of an anisotropic singlet superconductivity in a square lattice tight-binding model in parallel magnetic fields

Upper critical field parallel to the conducting layer is studied in anisotropic type-II superconductors on square lattices. We assume enough separation of the adjacent layers, for which the orbital pair-breaking effect is suppressed for exactly aligned parallel magnetic field. In particular, we examine the temperature dependence of the critical field H_c(T) of the superconductivity including the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO or LOFF) state, in which the Cooper pairs have non-zero center-of-mass momentum q. In the system with the cylindrically symmetric Fermi-surface, it is known that H_c(T) of the d-wave FFLO state exhibits a kink at a low temperature due to a change of the direction of q in contrast to observations in organic superconductors. It is shown that the kink disappears when the Fermi-surface is anisotropic to some extent, since the direction of q is locked in an optimum direction independent of the temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, revtex.sty, submitted to J.Phys.Soc.Jp

Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Priority Cultural Heritage Structures in the Philippines

At the end of 2013 two catastrophic events occurred in the Philippines: the M 7.2 earthquake in Bohol and the strongest ever recorded Typhoon Haiyan, causing destruction across the islands of Cebu, Bohol and the Visayas region. These events raised the need to carry out a multi-hazard risk assessment of heritage buildings, many of which were irretrievably lost in the disasters. Philippines’ Department of Tourism engaged ARS Progetti S.P.A., Rome, Italy, and the Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics (CCCPET), University of Sto. Tomas, Manila, to undertake the “Assessment of the Multi-Hazard Vulnerability of Priority Cultural Heritage Structures in the Philippines”, with experts from University College London, UK, and De La Salle University. The main objective of the project was to reduce the vulnerability of cultural heritage structures to multiple natural hazards, including earthquake, typhoon, flood, by: (i) prioritizing of specific structures based on hazard maps and historical records; (ii) assessing their vulnerability; and (iii) recommending options to mitigate the impacts on them. The paper presents the methodology introduced to determine the seismic risk these heritage buildings are exposed to. All the selected cultural heritage structures are under the jurisdiction of the National Museum Commission of Philippines and of the National Commission for Culture and Arts

Diversity of Butterflies (Rhopalocera) inBulusukan (San Ildelfonso, Bulacan, Philippines)

There are 1,615 species and sub species of butterflies in the entire Philippines (C.R Baltazar, 1991), LUBG San Fernando La Union has 104 species recorded they belong to 6 families and 66 genera(Nacua et al2015).In Manila,Nacua (2016) 22 species of butterflies belong to 6 families 17 genera were also recorded. Thisstudyseeks to determine the species composition, conservation status, richness and abundance of butterflies in the town of Bulusukan, a community in San Ildefonso, Bulacan province (Luzon Island, Philippines). The opportunistic transect sampling method was used to collect butterflies. Collection was done at daytime on August 6, 2016 from 8 am up to 5 pm in areas with GPS of 15°04'26.0652"northand 121°02'39.9588"east near the vicinity of Bulusukan Cave.Species richness and butterfly diversity in all areas sampled was calculated. A dendogram showing 75% species abundance was accounted and comes mostly from the secondary dipterocarp forest. Graphium antiphates Cramer, Ypthima semperaand Ptychandra lorquini-lorquini were found to be endemic to Bulusukan. Butterflies were observed to be attracted to shady forest areas consisting of mosses clinging on metamorphic rocks along a river and includes species from the families Nymphalidae and Papilionidae. This study was able to identify 21 butterfly species with 19 genera 2 of them are rare and 2 endemic species of butterflies in Bulusukan. It is recommended to continue further study for wet and dry season

Enhancement of the upper critical field and a field-induced superconductivity in antiferromagnetic conductors

We propose a mechanism by which the paramagnetic pair-breaking effect is largely reduced in superconductors with coexisting antiferromagnetic long- range and short-range orders. The mechanism is an extension of the Jaccarino and Peter mechanism to antiferromagnetic conductors, but the resultant phase diagram is quite different. In order to illustrate the mechanism, we examine a model which consists of mobile electrons and antiferromagnetically correlated localized spins with Kondo coupling between them. It is found that for weak Kondo coupling, the superconductivity occurs over an extraordinarily wide region of the magnetic field including zero field. The critical field exceeds the Chandrasekhar and Clogston limit, but there is no lower limit in contrast to the Jaccarino and Peter mechanism. On the other hand, for strong Kondo coupling, both the low-field superconductivity and a field-induced superconductivity occur. Possibilities in hybrid ruthenate cuprate superconductors and some organic superconductors are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, revtex.sty, to be published in J.Phys.Soc.Jpn. Vol.71, No.3 (2002

Infrared and optical properties of pure and cobalt-doped LuNi_2B_2C

We present optical conductivity data for Lu(Ni$_{1-x}$Co$_x$)$_2$B$_2$C over a wide range of frequencies and temperatures for x=0 and x=0.09. Both materials show evidence of being good Drude metals with the infrared data in reasonable agreement with dc resistivity measurements at low frequencies. An absorption threshold is seen at approximately 700 cm-1. In the cobalt-doped material we see a superconducting gap in the conductivity spectrum with an absorption onset at 24 +/- 2 cm-1 = 3.9$ +/- 0.4 k_BT_c suggestive of weak to moderately strong coupling. The pure material is in the clean limit and no gap can be seen. We discuss the data in terms of the electron-phonon interaction and find that it can be fit below 600 cm-1 with a plasma frequency of 3.3 eV and an electron-phonon coupling constant lambda_{tr}=0.33 using an alpha^{2}F(omega) spectrum fit to the resistivity.Comment: 10 pages with 10 embedded figures, submitted to PR

Novel testing and characterization of GFRP bars in compression

Glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars have now been increasingly used as longitudinal reinforcement in concrete columns. In column design and analysis, the contribution of GFRP bars to compression is often ignored or is estimated as a fraction of its tensile strength due to the limited understanding on their compressive behaviour. Moreover, there exists no standard test method to characterise the properties of GFRP bars in compression. This study implemented a novel test method to determine and characterise the compressive properties of high modulus GFRP bars. During the preparation of test specimens, hollow steel caps filled with cementitious grout were used to confine the top and bottom ends of the GFRP bars. The effects of the bar diameter (9.5, 15.9, and 19.1 mm) and the unbraced length-to-bar diameter ratio, Lu/db (2, 4, 8, and 16) were investigated on the compressive strength of the bars. The results showed that the increase in bar diameter increases the micro-fibre buckling and decreases the compressive-to-tensile strength ratio. Similarly, the failure mode changed from crushing to fibre buckling with the increase of Lu/db ratio. Simplified theoretical equations were proposed to reliably describe the compressive behaviour of GFRP bars with different bar diameters and Lu/db ratios