Kidlat Tahimik and the Determination of a Native Filmmaker

Using field notes drawn from participative research in the context of his home life in Hapao, Ifugao and Baguio City, Benguet, as well as information gathered through interviews with his family, confidantes, and mentees, the article revaluates the oeuvre of pioneering independent filmmaker, Kidlat Tahimik. It is written self-reflexively, approximating the critic’s process of understanding Kidlat’s work through the lenses of a personal encounter. It critiques Kidlat’s cinema, with special focus on Why is Yellow the Middle of the Rainbow? (1994), and reads it as his determination to author himself as “native” and “Third World” filmmaker, the same determination that animates the “independence” of his film practice

Alternative products to carbazoles in the oxidation of diphenylamines with palladium (II) acetate

Although simple diphenylamines are conveniently oxidised with Palladium (II) acetate to give carbazoles, for more complex examples, carbazoles are minor products amongst many.CRUP (Portugal). British Council - Treaty of Windsor Programme. Junta Nacional de Investigação Científica e Tecnológica

Synthesis of highly substituted diphenylacetamides and diphenylsulfonamides by the goldberg coupling reaction

We report the synthesis and characterisation of multisubstituted diphenylacetamides, diphenylsulfonamides and diphenylamines (and some observations on cyclisation of the last).Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)ICCTI and CRUP (Portugal) and the British Council for financial suppor

Studies on 5-Bromo-4,7-dimethylindene, an intermediate in the synthesis of 6-Bromo-5,8-dimethylisoquinoline

We report the complete characterisation of all the precursors of 6-bromo-5,8-dimethylisoquinoline via Miller and Moock´s synthesis, and the synthesis of 6-bromo-4,7-dimethyl-2-(5´-Bromo-4´,7´-dimethyl)-2´,3´-dihydro-1´-H-inden-1´-yl)-1-H-indene.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia. ICCTI (Portugal). CRUP (Portugal). British Council

Anti-tumour heterocycles : part 16 : the synthesis of 7,10-dimethoxyellipticine and its pyrrolo[2,3-f]carbazole and pyrrolo[3,2-f] analogues

The final examples in our ellipticine/pyrrolocarbazole synthesis programme are 7,10-dimethoxyellipticine 1a and the corresponding pyrrolocarbazoles 2a and 3a which have been synthesised from 4,6-dimethoxyindole

Optical-phonon resonances with saddle-point excitons in twisted-bilayer graphene

Twisted-bilayer graphene (tBLG) exhibits van Hove singularities in the density of states that can be tuned by changing the twisting angle $\theta$. A $\theta$-defined tBLG has been produced and characterized with optical reflectivity and resonance Raman scattering. The $\theta$-engineered optical response is shown to be consistent with persistent saddle-point excitons. Separate resonances with Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman scattering components can be achieved due to the sharpness of the two-dimensional saddle-point excitons, similar to what has been previously observed for one-dimensional carbon nanotubes. The excitation power dependence for the Stokes and anti-Stokes emissions indicate that the two processes are correlated and that they share the same phonon.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Privatization and State Capacity in Postcommunist Society

Economists have used cross-national regression analysis to argue that postcommunist economic failure is the result of inadequate adherence liberal economic policies. Sociologists have relied on case study data to show that postcommunist economic failure is the outcome of too close adherence to liberal policy recommendations, which has led to an erosion of state effectiveness, and thus produced poor economic performance. The present paper advances a version of this statist theory based on a quantitative analysis of mass privatization programs in the postcommunist world. We argue that rapid large-scale privatization creates severe supply and demand shocks for enterprises, thereby inducing firm failure. The resulting erosion of tax revenues leads to a fiscal crisis for the state, and severely weakens its capacity and bureaucratic character. This, in turn, reacts back on the enterprise sector, as the state can no longer support the institutions necessary for the effective functioning of a modern economy, thus resulting in deindustrialization. Using cross-national regression techniques we find that the implementation of mass privatization programs negatively impacts measures of economic growth, state capacity and the security of property rights.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40192/3/wp806.pd

Changes in leaf functional traits with leaf age: when do leaves decrease their photosynthetic capacity in Amazonian trees?

Most leaf functional trait studies in the Amazon basin do not consider ontogenetic variations (leaf age), which may influence ecosystem productivity throughout the year. When leaf age is taken into account, it is generally considered discontinuous, and leaves are classified into age categories based on qualitative observations. Here, we quantified age-dependent changes in leaf functional traits such as the maximum carboxylation rate of ribulose-1,5-biphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) (Vcmax), stomatal control (Cgs%), leaf dry mass per area and leaf macronutrient concentrations for nine naturally growing Amazon tropical trees with variable phenological strategies. Leaf ages were assessed by monthly censuses of branch-level leaf demography; we also performed leaf trait measurements accounting for leaf chronological age based on days elapsed since the first inclusion in the leaf demography, not predetermined age classes. At the tree community scale, a nonlinear relationship between Vcmax and leaf age existed: young, developing leaves showed the lowest mean photosynthetic capacity, increasing to a maximum at 45 days and then decreasing gradually with age in both continuous and categorical age group analyses. Maturation times among species and phenological habits differed substantially, from 8 ± 30 to 238 ± 30 days, and the rate of decline of Vcmax varied from −0.003 to −0.065 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 day−1. Stomatal control increased significantly in young leaves but remained constant after peaking. Mass-based phosphorus and potassium concentrations displayed negative relationships with leaf age, whereas nitrogen did not vary temporally. Differences in life strategies, leaf nutrient concentrations and phenological types, not the leaf age effect alone, may thus be important factors for understanding observed photosynthesis seasonality in Amazonian forests. Furthermore, assigning leaf age categories in diverse tree communities may not be the recommended method for studying carbon uptake seasonality in the Amazon, since the relationship between Vcmax and leaf age could not be confirmed for all trees

Conserving Ecosystem Diversity in the Tropical Andes

Documenting temporal trends in the extent of ecosystems is essential to monitoring their status but combining this information with the degree of protection helps us assess the effectiveness of societal actions for conserving ecosystem diversity and related ecosystem services. We demonstrated indicators in the Tropical Andes using both potential (pre-industrial) and recent (~2010) distribution maps of terrestrial ecosystem types. We measured long-term ecosystem loss, representation of ecosystem types within the current protected areas, quantifying the additional representation offered by protecting Key Biodiversity Areas. Six (4.8%) ecosystem types (i.e., measured as 126 distinct vegetation macrogroups) have lost >50% in extent across four Andean countries since pre-industrial times. For ecosystem type representation within protected areas, regarding the pre-industrial extent of each type, a total of 32 types (25%) had higher representation (>30%) than the post-2020 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) draft target in existing protected areas. Just 5 of 95 types (5.2%) within the montane Tropical Andes hotspot are currently represented with >30% within the protected areas. Thirty-nine types (31%) within these countries could cross the 30% CBD 2030 target with the addition of Key Biodiversity Areas. This indicator is based on the Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) and responds directly to the needs expressed by the users of these countries

Search for the decay Bs0→D*∓π±

A search for the decay Bs0→D*∓π± is presented using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0  fb-1 of pp collisions collected by LHCb. This decay is expected to be mediated by a W-exchange diagram, with little contribution from rescattering processes, and therefore a measurement of the branching fraction will help us to understand the mechanism behind related decays such as Bs0→π+π- and Bs0→DD- . Systematic uncertainties are minimized by using B0→D*∓π± as a normalization channel. We find no evidence for a signal, and set an upper limit on the branching fraction of B(Bs0→D*∓π±)<6.1(7.8)×10-6 at 90% (95%) confidence level