Taxonomic revision of Garcinia section Garcinia (Clusiaceae)

Species of Garcinia sect. Garcinia are typically understorey trees in rain forest and are distributed from eastern India to Malesia. A taxonomic revision of Garcinia section Garcinia (Clusiaceae) has resulted in the recognition of 13 species, two of which have three varieties each. Several species are excluded from Garcinia section Garcinia, reported as insufficiently known, or reduced to synonymy. Five species, G. acuticosta, G. discoidea, G. exigua, G. ochracea and G. sangudsangud, and two varieties, G. diospyrifolia var. minor and G. mangostana var. borneensis, are newly described. Morphological characters that are important for sectional delimitation are terminally attached inflorescences of simple cymes, stamen bundles 4 or 4-angled, and fruits with a smooth surface. Species limits are defined on the basis of a combination of characters of the male flower (i.e. shape of stamens, presence of pistillode), type of fruit, and characters of the leaf (shape and size, venation pattern and glandular lines)

Apparent digestibility coefficients and nutritional value of Iranian cottonseed meal varieties for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Three different varieties of cottonseed meal (CSM) were evaluated to measure the apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) of the nutrients using chromic oxide (Cr2O3) as an indigestible marker. Five experimental diets were prepared and mixed with 1% of Cr2O3, 2% of mineral and vitamin each of which were premixed. Diet 1 was used as the control diet. Diets 2, 3, 4 and 5 were formulated using 70% of the control diet together with 30% of each of the cottonseed meal Pak (CSMP), cottonseed meal Sahel (CSMS), cottonseed meal Akra (CSMA), and soya bean meal (SBM), respectively, in three replications. The ADC of the three CSM varieties was measured to be 53.8-62.7%, 60.2-66.6% and 75.6-82.4% for dry matter, fat and crude protein, respectively. Survival rate for all fishes used in this study was more than 98%. Fishes fed with the CSM diets were not significantly different compared with those fed with the SBM diet in terms of survival rate (p>0.05). Apparent protein digestibility of CSMP and CSMS showed no significant difference with SBM (p>0.05). Therefore, it could be concluded that two kinds of CSM could be used as a replacement for SBM in rainbow trout as a protein source

Defect identification during pulse mode laser welding process through the pattern recognition analysis of the acquired sound frequency spectrum

Problems on laser weld quality still remain as vital issue even though the process was done with optimized condition which results the demand on robust monitoring method during the process. Until recently, many methods have been explored and air-borne acoustic are among of methods that have been proven to be able to detect the presence of defect. However, despite detection, it is essential if the type of defect could be identified as it gives different severity level to the development of failure. This work presents the identification of defect during pulse mode laser welding through the analysis of sound. In achieving the goal of this study, bead on plate weld have been done onto the 22MnB5 boron steel plate repeatedly based on 3 different set of experiment with the variation in the level of parameters. Simultaneously, time-series sound signal was acquired along the process before it was converted into frequency spectrum before further analysis. According to the result, it was recorded that the variation of parameters level in pulse mode laser welding process lead to the presence of porosity and crack. Relatively, the trend of sound frequency spectrum were also significantly changes its trend in respond to the parameters level variation. It was discovered that the dominant frequency for the signals acquired from the process which produce good quality weld, porosity and crack recorded the same range which was between 5 to 7 kHz. Uniquely, the existence of porosity could be identified by the occurrence of peak at around 9 kHz while the presence of crack could be recognized by the occurrence of peak at 8 kHz and 11 kHz. This trend was proven to be consistent in repeated experiment according to the result from principal component analysis. Based from the result in this study, it could be conclude that the identification of defect could be done by the analysis of the acquired sound during the process. Significantly, this would expand the ability of acoustic method for quality monitoring purpose as the identification of defect is also important in quality control

Probiotic administration of Litopenaeus vannamei: Is there any negative effect on the fatty acid profile of meat?

It has been found that appropriate probiotic applications increased growth performance and disease resistance in shrimp. Bacillus subtilis has been suggested as a potent probiotic in improving growth performance and enhancing immune response in white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. The aim of this work was to evaluate the possible effect of B. subtilis administration on the meat fatty acid profile of white shrimp, L. vannamei. Two groups of shrimps received B. subtilis strains L10 and G1 from the B. subtilis-supplemented feed (10^5 and 10^8 CFU g^-1) while two other groups received it from the rearing water (10^5 and 10^8 CFU ml^-1). One group received no B. subtilis and served as control. According to the results, there was no significant difference between the muscle fatty acid profiles of shrimps administrated by probiotic and control group. This study showed that B. subtilis administration, in either diets or water, did not have any negative effect on fatty acid profiles of L. vannamei meat

An adaptation of deep learning technique in orbit propagation model using long short-term memory

The orbit propagation model is used to predict the position and velocity of the satellites. It is crucial to obtain accurate predictions to ensure that satellite operation planning is in place and detects any possible disasters. However, the model's accuracy decreases as the propagation span increases if the input data are not updated. Therefore, to minimize these errors while still maintaining the model accuracy, a study is conducted. The Simplified General Perturbations-4 (SGP4) model and two-line elements (TLE) data are selected to perform this study. The problem is analyzed, and the deep learning technique is the proposed method to solve the issue. Next, the enhanced model is validated. The study aims to produce a reliable orbit propagation model and assist the satellite's operational planning. Also, the improved model can provide vital information for space-based organizations and anyone who may be affected

Flow properties of Ficus deltoidea extract powder and the binders, Acdisol and Avicel

This work aimed to investigate the flowability properties of the basic powders used to make tablets by means of direct compression. The main product in this study is Ficus deltoidea extract powder, while the excipients operated as binder were croscarmellose sodium (NaCMC or Acdisol) and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC or Avicel). Such excipient powders are essentially water insoluble and can also act as a filler, disintegrator and dissolver in tablet form. In order to compare and optimize powders regarding flowability, a Jenike shear tester was used to measure the flow properties of the powder particle, such as the effective angle of internal friction, flow function and the angle of wall friction. The experimental results showed higher flow property values for binders compared with F. deltoidea extract powder. These results provide essential information for the processing and handling of these powders during storage, transportation and also for the next processing step of powder – tabletting

Adaptive memory-based single distribution resampling for particle filter

The restrictions that are related to using single distribution resampling for some specific computing devices’ memory gives developers several difficulties as a result of the increased effort and time needed for the development of a particle filter. Thus, one needs a new sequential resampling algorithm that is flexible enough to allow it to be used with various computing devices. Therefore, this paper formulated a new single distribution resampling called the adaptive memory size-based single distribution resampling (AMSSDR). This resampling method integrates traditional variation resampling and traditional resampling in one architecture. The algorithm changes the resampling algorithm using the memory in a computing device. This helps the developer formulate a particle filter without over considering the computing devices’ memory utilisation during the development of different particle filters. At the start of the operational process, it uses the AMSSDR selector to choose an appropriate resampling algorithm (for example, rounding copy resampling or systematic resampling), based on the current computing devices’ physical memory. If one chooses systematic resampling, the resampling will sample every particle for every cycle. On the other hand, if it chooses the rounding copy resampling, the resampling will sample more than one of each cycle’s particle. This illustrates that the method (AMSSDR) being proposed is capable of switching resampling algorithms based on various physical memory requirements. The aim of the authors is to extend this research in the future by applying their proposed method in various emerging applications such as real-time locator systems or medical applications

Mitochondrial barcodes of dragonflies and damselflies originated from Taman Negara Endau Rompin, Johor, Malaysia

Dragonflies and damselflies (Odonates) are important biological indicators in freshwater ecosystems. However, identification among Odonates is often challenging due to their similar morphological features. Therefore, the incorporation of morphological identification by taxonomists and validation using mitochondrial barcodes such as cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) can be a more reliable approach to enhance the accuracy in species identification. In this study, four COI barcodes for Malaysian dragonflies (Neurothemis fluctuans) and damselflies (Neurobasis chinensis, Aristocypha fenestrella and Sundacypha petiolata) were generated. Three of the generated barcodes (D2 COI, D4 COI and D5 COI) supported the species identified by taxonomists meanwhile D3 COI deduced that the damselfly species was misidentified due to the very similar morphology between the same genus of damselfly. All of the COI barcodes are now available in the GenBank with the accession numbers of MT266926.1 (D2 COI), MT266925.1 (D3 COI), MT269676.1 (D4 COI) and MT266924.1 (D5 COI)

Inhibitory effects of swietenia mahagoni seeds extract on A-glucosidase and A-amylase

This study analyzed the inhibition activity of Swietenia mahagoni seeds extract on α-glucosidase and α-amylase enzymes inhibition assays. Swietenia mahagoni seeds were extracted by using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extraction at pressures of 20-30 MPa and temperatures of 40-60°C. The oil yields obtained were analyzed with α- glucosidase and α- amylase enzymes inhibition assays. All data obtained were expressed as mean ± standard deviation for triplicate experiments. One way analysis was used for statistical significance by using statistica software version 7.0 (StartSoft, EUA) and IC50 (extract concentration causing 50% enzyme inhibitory) was determined by using GraphPad Prism 6.0 software. Swietenia mahagoni seeds extract have a strong inhibition of α-glucosidase enzyme activity (98.4% ± 0.2) but a moderate inhibition of α- amylase enzyme activity (34.9% ± 1.2). These findings implied that Swietenia mahagoni seeds extract could be an effective natural antidiabetic agent

The first complete mitochondrial genome data of hippocampus kuda originating from Malaysia

The spotted seahorse, Hippocampus kuda population is exponentially decreasing globally due to habitat loss contributed by massive coastal urbanization as well as its large exploitation for Chinese herbal medicine. Genomic data would be highly useful to improve biomonitoring of seahorse populations in Malaysia via the usage of non-invasive approaches such as water environmental DNA. Here we report the first complete mitogenome of two H. kuda individuals originating from Malaysia, generated using BGISEQ-500RS sequencer. The lengths of both mitogenomes are 16,529bp, consisting of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosomal RNA genes, and a control region. The overall base composition was 32.46% for A, 29.40% for T, 14.73% for G and 23.41% for C with AT rich features (61.86%). The gene organization of Malaysian H. kuda were similar to that of most teleost species. A phylogenetic analysis of the genome against mtDNA data from other Hippocampus species showed that Malaysian H. kuda samples clustered with H. capensis, H. reidi and H. kuda. Notably however, analysis of the data using BLASTn revealed they had 99.18% similarity to H. capensis, and only 97.66% to H. kuda and H. reidi, which are all part of the unresolved H. kuda complex. The mitogenomes are deposited in Genbank under the accession number MT221436 (HK1) and MT221436 (HK2)