Increased Carbon Dioxide concentration improves the antioxidative properties of the Malaysian herb Kacip Fatimah (Labisia pumila Blume).

A randomized complete randomized design (RCBD) 3 by 3 experiment was designed to investigate and distinguish the relationships among production of secondary metabolites (total phenolics, TP; total flavonoids, TF), gluthatione (GSH), oxidized gluthatione (GSSG), soluble carbohydrate and antioxidant activities of the Malaysian medicinal herb Labisia pumila Blume under three levels of CO₂ enrichment (400, 800 and 1,200 µmol mol⁻¹) for 15 weeks. It was found that the treatment effects were solely contributed by interaction of CO₂ levels and secondary metabolites distribution in plant parts, GSH, GSHH and antioxidant activities (peroxyl radicals (ROO), superoxide radicals (O₂), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and hydroxyl radicals (OH). The records of secondary metabolites, glutahione, oxidized gluthathione and antioxidant activities in a descending manner came from the leaf enriched with 1,200 µmol/mol CO₂ > leaf 800 µmol/mol CO₂ > leaf 400 µmol/mol CO₂ > stem 1,200 µmol/mol CO₂ > stem 800 µmol/mol CO₂ > stem 400 µmol/mol CO₂ > root 1,200 µmol/mol CO₂ > root 800 µmol/mol CO₂ > root 400 µmol/mol CO₂. Correlation analyses revealed strong significant positive coefficients of antioxidant activities with total phenolics, flavonoids, GSH and GSHH indicating that an increase in antioxidative activity of L. pumila under elevated CO₂ might be up-regulated by the increase in production of total phenolics, total flavonoids, GSH, GSHH and soluble sugar. This study implied that the medicinal potential of herbal plant such as L. pumila can be enhanced under elevated CO₂, which had simultaneously improved the antioxidative activity that indicated by the high oxygen radical absorbance activity against ROO, O₂, H₂O₂, and OH radicals

Relationship between extractable chlorophyll content and SPAD values in three varieties of Kacip Fatimah under greenhouse conditions

Relationship between extractable chlorophyll and relative chlorophyll values obtained using Soil Plant Analytical Development (SPAD)-502 meter were determined in three varieties of Labisia pumila (alata, pumila, lanceolata) under greenhouse conditions using fresh weight basis. The experiment was arranged as a complete randomized design replicated three times with each experimental unit containing five plants. There were no significant differences (P ≥ 0.05) for all the three varieties in their chlorophyll a, b and total. Best fit relationship was found to be linear in chlorophyll a, b and total (P ≤ 0.01) with ascending slope as SPAD values intensified. Chlorophyll b was higher than chlorophyll a in all the varieties indicating species as shade-loving plants. The chlorophyll content of L. pumila leaves can be conveniently determined using SPAD-502 chlorophyll meter, a technique providing simple, rapid, and nondestructive method to estimate leaf chlorophyll content which could also be an indicator of leaf nitrogen (N) status

The relationship of nitrogen and C/N ratio with secondary metabolites levels and antioxidant activities in three varieties of Malaysian Kacip Fatimah (Labisia pumila Blume).

Kacip Fatimah (Labisia pumila Blume), one of the most famous and widely used herbs, especially in Southeast Asia, is found to have interesting bioactive compounds and displays health promoting properties. In this study, the antioxidant activities of the methanol extracts of leaves, stems and roots of three varieties of L. pumila (var. alata, pumila and lanceolata) were evaluated in an effort to compare and validate the medicinal potential of this indigenous Malaysian herb species. The antioxidant activity determined by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, as well as the total amount of phenolics and flavonoids were the highest in the leaves, followed by the stems and roots in all the varieties. A similar trend was displayed by the ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) activity, suggesting that the L. pumila varieties possess high foliar antioxidant properties. At low FRAP activity concentrations, the values of the leaves' inhibition activity in the three varieties were significantly higher than those of the stems and roots, with var. alata exhibiting higher antioxidant activities and total contents of phenolics and flavonoids compared to the varieties pumila and lanceolata. The high production of secondary metabolites and antioxidant activities in var. alata were firmly related to low nitrogen content and high C/N ratio in plant parts. The study also demonstrated a positive correlation between secondary metabolite content and antioxidant activities, and revealed that the consumption of L. pumila could exert several beneficial effects by virtue of its antioxidant activity

Visual assessment on product label design criteria through eye tracking

Product label is a printed product information displayed on the product packaging. The product label designs are the combination of text and image elements. The process of designing a product label is complicated as there are various types of text and images involved. Product label designs that are less attractive wouldl affect purchasing choices. The purpose of this study is to identify the design criterias of texts and images to help consumer in their purchase selection. The study focuses on the visual assessment through eye tracking method on food and beverage product label. The eye movement observation method conducted using eye tracker device to track 6 parameters of eye movements on the product label during purchasing selection and determine 7 main text and image design criterias for food and beverage product label. The consumers were selected among university students. The study has found that the purchase selection of bread and mineral water product from the food and beverage product category are the most difficult. There are similarities in eye tracking parameters on product label visual assessment during purchasing choices. The similarities of text and image design criteria on food and beverage products label include i) shape text: uppercase and lowercase, ii) type family text: sanserif, iii) width text: condensed, iv) slope text: roman, v) weight text: bold and vi) nature image: illustration

Photosynthetic capacity, photochemical efficiency and chlorophyll content of three varieties of Labisia pumila Benth. Exposed to open field and greenhouse growing conditions.

Three varieties (Alata, Pumila and Lanceolata) of Malaysian indigenous medicinal herb Labisia pumila Benth. grown in greenhouse and open field were tested to evaluate and compare their photosynthetic and maximal quantum efficiency of photosystem II (F v/F m) reactions. Every variety grown in greenhouse demonstrated higher light-saturated photosynthetic capacity than in the open field. The diurnal net photosynthesis (A) curve in the open field also displayed dual peaks with lower daily average A compared to the greenhouse. Varieties Alata and Pumila were found to acclimatize better under both growing conditions. The diurnal patterns of F v/F m indicated that plants grown under greenhouse encountered less photoinhibition than in open field condition. A decrease in chlorophyll (chl) a/b ratio in leaves of greenhouse plants with significant increase in chl b was observed. This study indicates that var. Alata and var. Pumila have the capacity to acclimatize to greenhouse growth condition

Preparation and characterisation of inexpensive porous kaolin hollow fibre as ceramic membrane supports for gas separation application

Low-cost, porous ceramic kaolin-based hollow fibre membrane support (HFMS) for gas separation application was developed via phase inversion technique. The ceramic suspensions with various ratios of kaolin to polyethersulfone (PESf) binder (5:1 to 9:1) were extruded and then sintered at 1200 to 1500 °C. The HFMSs were characterised by several analyses to investigate the effects of kaolin/PESf ratio and sintering temperature on the sample properties. The results showed that the kaolin/PES ratio and sintering temperature affected the considerable structure and physical properties of the kaolin membrane. It is observed that with increasing sintering temperature, the porosity and gas permeation of the HFMS decreased, while the bending strength and density of the HFMS increased. As a result, a porous HFMS with sufficient mechanical strength and high gas permeation characteristics is achievable if the appropriate kaolin/PESf ratio and sintering temperature are chosen

State-Feedback Controller Based on Pole Placement Technique for Inverted Pendulum System

This paper presents a state space control technique for inverted pendulum system using simulation and real experiment via MATLAB/SIMULINK software. The inverted pendulum is difficult system to control in the field of control engineering. It is also one of the most important classical control system problems because of its nonlinear characteristics and unstable system. It has three main problems that always appear in control application which are nonlinear system, unstable and non-minimumbehavior phase system. This project will apply state feedback controller based on pole placement technique which is capable in stabilizing the practical based inverted pendulum at vertical position. Desired design specifications which are 4 seconds settling time and 5 % overshoot is needed to apply in full state feedback controller based on pole placement technique. First of all, the mathematical model of an inverted pendulum system is derived to obtain the state space representation of the system. Then, the design phase of the State-Feedback Controller can be conducted after linearization technique is performed to the nonlinear equation with the aid of mathematical aided software such as Mathcad. After that, the design is simulated using MATLAB/Simulink software. The controller design of the inverted pendulum system is verified using simulation and experiment test. Finally the controller design is compared with PID controller for benchmarking purpose

OPTICAL SWITCHING CONTROLLER USING FPGA AS A CONTROLLER FOR OCDMA ENCODER SYSTEM

This paper proposed a design of optical switching controller using FPGA for OCDMA encoder system. The encoder is one of the new technologies that use to transmit the coded data in the optical communication system by using FPGA and optical switches. It is providing a high security for data transmission due to all data will be transmitting in binary code form. The output si gnals from FPGA are coded with a binary code that given to an optical switch before it signal modulate with the carrier and transmit to the receiver. In this paper, AA and 55 data were used for source 1 and source 2. It is generated sample data and sent packet dat a to the FPGA and stored it into RAM. The simulation results have done by using software Verilog Spartan 2 programming to simulate. After that the output will produces at waveform to display the output. The main function of FPGA controlling unit is producing sing le pulse and configuring optical switching system

Involvement of carbohydrate, protein and phenylanine ammonia lyase in up-regulation of secondary metabolites in labisia pumila under various CO 2 and N2 levels.

A split plot factorial 2 × 3 experiment was designed to examine and characterize the relationships among secondary metabolites (total phenolics, TP; total flavonoids, TF), carbohydrate content, C/N ratio, protein synthesis and L-phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL; EC 4.3.1.5) activity in the Malaysian medicinal herb Labisia pumila (Blume) Fern-Vill. under different CO2 concentrations (400 = ambient and 1,200 μmol mol-1 CO2) and three levels of nitrogen fertilization (0, 90 and 270 kg N ha-1) for 15 weeks. The interaction between CO2 and nitrogen levels imposed a significant impact on plant secondary metabolite production, protein, PAL activity and fructose levels. Highest TP and TF were recorded under 1,200 μmol mol-1 CO2 when N fertilizer was not applied; lowest values were obtained at 400 μmol mol-1 CO2 fertilized with the highest N level. Concurrently, fructose contents increased tremendously. Increase in fructose content might also enhance erythose-4-phosphate production (substrate for lignin and phenolic compounds), which shares a common precursor transdalolase in the pentose phosphate pathway. PAL activity was noted to be highest under 1,200 μmol mol-1 CO2 + 0 kg N ha-1 coinciding with subsequent recording of the lowest protein content. The results implied that the increase in plant secondary metabolites production under the tested conditions might be due to diversion of phenylalanine for protein synthesis to production of secondary metabolites. It was also found that the sucrose to starch ratio was also high under high levels of nitrogen fertilization, indicating an enhanced sucrose phosphate synthase activity (SPS; EC 2.4.1.14) under such condition