Pollen morphology and harmomegathic characters of Byttneria Löfl. species (Sterculiaceae S. S: subfam. Byttnerioideae)

A palynological study was conducted on seven species of Byttneria Löfl. The objectives of this study was to understand the variation in micromorphological and harmomegarthic characteristics of pollen in Byttneria species in Malaysia and Singapore. In doing so, more information on the species of Sterculiaceae s.s family can be added. Dried pollen samples of seven Byttneria species were selected in this study, namely B. scabrida Ridl., B. pilosa Roxb., B. elliptica Pohl, B. curtisii Oliv., B. reinwardtii Korth., B. maingayi Mast. and B. jackiana Wall. Methods involved were acetolysis techniques, single-grain technique, and observation under light microscope and scanning electron microscope. Common characters shared by all studied species were porate pollen class, triporate aperture, and triangular outline. Variation in pollen characteristics includes ratio of exine thickness, pollen size, pore width and height, amb; shape and measurements. These characters are valuable in assisting identification of taxa group that can be used to differentiate between species in the genus. This study proved that pollen morphological characteristics of Byttneria have taxonomic values in identification and differentiation of species in subfamily Byttnerioideae and Sterculiaceae s. s

Monitoring strain development of soil slope using distributed optical fibre sensor

Rainfall infiltration is well-known as one of the important factors that lead to slope failure in tropical areas such Malaysia because it's significant fluctuation of pore water pressure due to monsoon seasons. In this paper, a distributed sensing optical fibre system named Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis (BOTDA) is used to monitor the strain development of a laboratory soil slope model. The aim of study is to determine the plane failure of a residual soil slope under rainfall infiltration and subsequent loading impact using BOTDA technology. A soil slope model was constructed from Malaysian residual soil slope and tested under various rainfall infiltration patterns and sequential loadings. A continuous ribbon optical fibre has been directly embedded in the soil slope to measure the soil strain. The paper only presented on soil strain response due to rainfall infiltration and relations to the pore pressure development within the finite slope. From the experiments, it has been observed that the optical fibre has been able to capture soil strain during infiltration which proven the sensitivity of optical fibre to measure soil strain. The maximum strain observed was about 850 microstrain (μϵ) which occurred at the third layer of slope height (L1) at 8-hour of infiltration. After 24-hours of infiltration, the strain was observed to be constant for all layers; Layer 1 (L1) = 302 μϵ, Layer 2 = 210 μϵ and Layer 3 (L3) = 190 μϵ in which the whole sample was clearly seen in a fully saturated condition and the negative pore pressure has remained constant throughout the depth

Strategies for the construction of cassava brown streak disease viral infectious clones

Cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) has major impacts on yield and quality of the tuberous roots of cassava in Eastern and Central Arica. At least two Potyviridae species cause the disease: Cassava brown streak virus (CBSV) and Ugandan cassava brown streak virus (UCBSV). Cloned viral genome sequences known as infectious clones (ICs) have been important in the study of other viruses, both as a means of standardising infectious material and characterising viral gene function. IC construction is often technically challenging for Potyviridae due to sequence instability in E. coli. Here, we evaluate three methods for the construction of infectious clones for CBSD. Whilst a simple IC for in vitro transcription was made for UCBSV isolate ‘Kikombe’, such an approach failed to deliver full-length clones for CBSV isolates ‘Nampula’ or ‘Tanza’, necessitating more complex approaches for their construction. The ICs successfully generated symptomatic infection in the model host N. benthamiana and in the natural host cassava. This shows that whilst generating ICs for CBSV is still a technical challenge, a structured approach, evaluating both in vitro and in planta transcription systems should successfully deliver ICs, allowing further study into the symptomology and virulence factors in this important disease complex

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Development of Science, Environmental, Technology, and Community Based on E-Module in Science Subject to Improve Learning Outcomes

To find E-Modul for Science subject based on SETS to increase the students learning outcome at Class VII Junior High School SMPN 3 Pulau Rakyat. This type of research is oriented towards research and development (R&D) research that produces products. The steps for the development research used are the Addie development model developed by Dick and Carey. Development of E-Modules based on SETS in Science Learning to Improve Learning Outcomes of Class VII Students of SMPN 3 Pulau Rakyat which were developed valid research and entitled to be used as learning tools for science lessons in class VII. It is also in Science Learning to Improve Learning Outcomes of Class VII Students of SMPN 3 Pulau Rakyat which were developed effectively in improving student learning outcomes in class VII students. E-Modules based on SETS in Science Learning to Improve Learning Outcomes of Class VII Students of SMPN 3 Pulau Rakyat which were developed effectively in improving student learning outcomes in class VII students