A Life Table of the Asiatic Maize Stem Borer, Ostrinia furnacalis Guene

The survivor ship and fecundity rates of Ostrinia furnacalis Guenee were measured in the laboratory using the major host plant, the maize plant. Raw data analysis of the age-specific single-sex female life table is described. The intrinsic rates of increase were calculated with respect to single sex. Using the single-sex method, the intrinsic rate of natural increase (1), the net reproductive rate (R), the generation time (T) and the doubling time (DT) were 0.157, 139.6, 31.5 days and 4.62 days, respectively. The age-specific survival and fecundity curves showed that ovi position peakedon the 8th day after female emergence and lasted for 11 days. The survival rates for the egg, larval and pupal stages were 96, 85 and 90%, respectively. The maximum life span (from egg to death of adult) was 38 days. The male moth emerged 2 days earlier than the females. Adult longevity averaged 7 days. Female fecundity reached a maximum of 115 eggs with an average fecundity of 60 eggs per femal

Efficiency of Fixed-Width Transect and Line-Transect-based Distance Sampling to Survey Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus) in Peninsular Malaysia

Reliable survey method is very important to estimate wildlife population. In this study, fixed-width strip- and line-transect samplings were simultaneously used to yield population estimates on oil palm plantation. The latter was found to be more accurate but less precise than the former based on the Per cent Relative Bias (hereafter PRB). Using the strip-transect, an overall density and abundance were estimated at 0.3237 birds/ha and 3 018 ± 273 birds (CV = 9.05%), respectively. An unbiased overall density generated by line-transect, D ± S.E. = 0.500 ± 0.069 birds/ha (95% CI: 0.38137 - 0.65521) and estimated total abundance, N ± S.E. was 4 661 ± 644 birds (95% CI: 3 556 - 6 109; CV = 13.81%) for the entire 9 323.53 ha study area. The former and latter method gave relative and absolute estimates, respectively

Rheological characterisation of Malaysian varieties of sweet potato doughs using large and small deformation measurements

The rheological properties of sweet potato doughs at different mixing times were studied. In the large deformation extension test, extensibility parameters including dough length at fracture, measured, and actual forces acting on dough strips were obtained for calculating the stress-strain data. For the small deformation test, both storage and loss modulus of dough were studied. The extensibility of dough from sweet potato flour increased to its peak at five minutes mixing time before decreasing illustrating an optimum mixing time. The variety of VitAto which has a higher protein content of 5.7 g/100 g has higher values of all the extensibility parameters as compared to Bukit Naga and Okinawan. In terms of flow-behavior index, all sweet potato doughs displayed n values from 1.82 to 2.11, indicating strain hardening behaviors similar to wheat flour doughs. The small deformation tests were not able to identify the optimum mixing time, although in general, illustrated that sweet potato doughs were essentially elastic or recoverable. The Pearson correlations of large and small deformation tests showed that the rheological parameters were positively correlated among themselves in the evaluation of the effect of mixing time to rheological properties of sweet potato dough

Coherence-Incoherence and Dimensional Crossover in Layered Strongly Correlated Metals

Correlations between electrons and the effective dimensionality are crucial factors that shape the properties of an interacting electron system. For example, the onsite Coulomb repulsion, U, may inhibit, or completely block the intersite electron hopping, t, and depending on the ratio U/t, a material may be a metal or an insulator. The correlation effects increase as the number of allowed dimensions decreases. In 3D systems, the low energy electronic states behave as quasiparticles (QP), while in 1D systems, even weak interactions break the quasiparticles into collective excitations. Dimensionality is particularly important for a class of new exotic low-dimensional materials where 1D or 2D building blocks are loosely connected into a 3D whole. Small interactions between the blocks may induce a whole variety of unusual transitions. Here, we examine layered systems that in the direction perpendicular to the layers display a crossover from insulating-like, at high temperatures, to metallic-like character at low temperatures, while being metallic over the whole temperature range within the layers. We show that this change in effective dimensionality correlates with the existence or non-existence of coherent quasiparticles within the layers

A novel approach of multimedia instruction applications in engineering education

Effective use of educational technology depends on knowledge of why and how to utilize technology to solve teaching and learning problems. The present study first conducts a systematic literature review of the limited studies undertaken on multimedia instruction applications for engineering education to critique the current status of knowledge in this area. The conventional qualitative content analysis method was employed for data analysis. The results highlighted the incompatibility of three basic educational elements i.e. engineering curriculum, educational resources and engineering students’ learning characteristics all of which posed major challenges in teaching and learning engineering courses. Multimedia instruction enhances engineering students’ understanding of engineering concepts, procedures, problems and solutions through direct visualization. Furthermore, it could indirectly assist students in achieving higher order learning levels and skills through enhancing or supporting educational resources and increasing students’ motivation. Mobile multimedia instruction and a student-generated multimedia learning approach to improve engineering education are suggested for future research

Holographic Screening Length in a Hot Plasma of Two Sphere

We study the screening length of a quark-antiquark pair moving in a hot plasma living in two sphere $S^2$ manifold using AdS/CFT correspondence where the background metric is four dimensional Schwarzschild-AdS black hole. The geodesic solution of the string ends at the boundary is given by a stationary motion in the equatorial plane as such the separation length $L$ of quark-antiquark pair is parallel to the angular velocity $\omega$. The screening length and the bound energy are computed numerically using Mathematica. We find that the plots are bounded from below by some functions related to the momentum transfer $P_c$ of the drag force configuration. We compare the result by computing the screening length in the quark-antiquark reference frame where the gravity dual are "Boost-AdS" and Kerr-AdS black holes. Finding relations of the parameters of both black holes, we argue that the relation between mass parameters $M_{Sch}$ of the Schwarzschild-AdS black hole and $M_{Kerr}$ of the Kerr-AdS black hole in high temperature is given by $M_{Kerr}=M_{Sch}(1-a^2l^2)^{3/2}$, where $a$ is the angular momentum parameter.Comment: Major revision: title changed, adding authors, 13 pages, 8 figures, etc. Accepted for publication in European Physical Journal

ARPES Study of the Metal-Insulator Transition in Bismuth Cobaltates

We present an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) study of a Mott-Hubbard-type bismuth cobaltate system across a metal-insulator transition. By varying the amount of Pb substitution, and by doping with Sr or Ba cation, a range of insulating to metallic properties is obtained. We observe a systematic change in the spectral weight of the coherent and incoherent parts, accompanied by an energy shift of the incoherent part. The band dispersion also shows the emergence of a weakly dispersing state at the Fermi energy with increasing conductivity. These changes correspond with the changes in the temperature-dependent resistivity behavior. We address the nature of the coherent-incoherent parts in relation to the peak-dip-hump feature seen in cuprates superconductors

The feasibility of using line-transect-based distance sampling to survey Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus spadiceus Bonnaterre) in Peninsular Malaysia

Population management of exploited species requires information on absolute density and abundance through reliable survey methods available. The baseline information is further needed for population dynamics studies and to determine conservation status. In the case of gamebird management in Peninsular Malaysia, the current population size of Red Junglefowl (RJF) is totally unknown because no official attempt to estimate it has been made in previous years. In this study, line transect based Distance Sampling was used to yield population estimates in palm oil plantation. Data from aural and visual counts were combined to calculate overall estimates. Results indicated that an unbiased overall density and abundance of RJF generated by this method for the entire 9,323.53 ha study area., was estimated at, D±S.E.=0.500±0.069 birds/ha (95% CI: 0.381-0.655) and, N±S.E.=4,661±644 birds (95% CI: 3,556-6,109; CV=13.81%), respectively. The cluster size of the species was estimated at, E(s)±S.E.=2.471±0.144 birds/flock (95% CI: 2.202-2.772; CV=5.82%)