Navigating uncertainty and complexity: Higher education and the dilemma of employability

This paper reinforces growing social and economic demands for graduates who can navigate the uncertainty and complexity of rapidly transforming employment contexts. This aim is first addressed with an overview of the research on employability and the changing nature of work and employment. This is followed with a discussion of employability and career development within higher education. The article concludes by considering the implications for higher education institutions. Recommendations include the development of graduate employability measures that record multiple employments and the refinement of employability models. The authors challenge higher education institutions to place the development of self and career at the core of every program

Pengembangan Koleksi Tumbuhan Kebun Raya Daerah Dalam Kerangka Strategi Konservasi Tumbuhan Di Indonesia

Sebagai bagian dari kebun raya dunia, Kebun Raya Indonesia (KRI) memiliki tanggung jawab untuk melaksanakan upaya konservasi tumbuhan yang ada di Indonesia. Hingga tahun 2010, empat kebun raya yang dikelola oleh LIPI hanya mampu mengkonservasi sekitar 21% dari seluruh tumbuhan terancam Indonesia. Oleh karena itu, diperlukan pengembangan Kebun Raya Daerah (KRD) untuk mengkonservasi tumbuhan pada tiap daerah di Indonesia. Makalah ini bertujuan untuk untuk mengetahui capaian KRD dalam konservasi tumbuhan dan menentukan strategi pengelolaan koleksi tumbuhan tiap daerah. Pada akhir 2012, KRI yang didukung KRD telah berhasil mengoleksi 24% dari tumbuhan terancam Indonesia versi IUCN Red List 2013, dan berhasil membudidayakan 25% termasuk koleksi pembibitan. Beberapa strategi untuk pengembangan koleksi KRD antara lain: penguatan sistem data base koleksi; pengembangan koleksi tumbuhan di setiap KRD dengan mengacu pada IUCN Red List; dan penentuan spesies prioritas untuk konservasi terkait dengan kebijakan dan kondisi alam di Indonesia

PEMBUATAN DAN PERANCANGAN ALAT PENGURAI SABUT KELAPA SECARA MANUAL

Abstrak: Alat pengurai sabut kelapa ini adalah suatu alat untuk mengurai sabut kelapa menjadi serat panjang-panjang dari pengikatnya yaitu cocopeat, dimana cara kerja alat ini mula-mula jepitkan sabut kelapa pada dudukan di bagian samping silinder, lalu dorong dudukan sabut kelapa ke arah depan sampai menyentuh mata pengurai. Selanjutnya putar tuas pemutar yang menggerakkan poros (pada poros terdapat paku-paku yang berpungsih untuk mengurai sabut kelapa) searah jarum jam sampai sabut kelapa bersih sampai menjadi helaian-helaian serat sabut yang panjang dan bersih. Pembuatan alat pengurai sabut kelapa ini melalui beberapa proses, mulai dari proses pembuatan rangka, pembubutan poros yang terbuat dari kayu, dan pemasangan paku-paku yang tertanam merata pada poros (pinising). Dari proses pembuatan alat pengurai sabut kelapa ini di lakukan juga pengujian dengan penguraian sabut kelapa dengan menggunakan tiga jenis sabut kelapa. Hasil yang diproleh dari pengujian penguraian sabut kelapa, dari hasil pengujian sabut muda diperoleh berat sabut rata-rata 15 gram dengan kondisi kurang bersih. Untuk sabut kelapa yang sedang diperoleh berat sabut rata-rata 10 gram dengan kondisi sabut yang cukup bersih, dan untuk sabut kelapa tua berat sabut yang dihasilkan rata-rata 5 gram dengan kondisi sabut yang telah bersih dan siap digunakan.                                                                                                 Kata kunci: alat pengurai. sabut. putaran (RPM

Double-stage features extraction for Malays vowel classification using multinomial logistic regression

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) has recorded enormous development in both research and implementation such as voice commands to control electronic appliances, video games, interface to voice dictation, assistive leaving for the elderly, and dialogue systems. Rapid development on ASR can be seen on the English language, while duplicating the ASR framework for Malay language is possible, but the work demands endlessly efforts. One of common tools that is able to classify Malay vowels is Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR). However, careless on estimating the parameters of MLR may lead to producing biased classifier which inappropriate for future classification. Besides, the used on huge number of features for classification sometimes hinder MLR to perform well. This paper outlines a new idea for estimating the unknown MLR parameters with less number of features using a double-stage features extraction based on MLR (DSFE-MLR). The proposed DSFE-MLR extracted 39-MFCC from speech waveform and constructed an MLR using training set. Next, the MLR output of class membership probabilities were further extracted through MLR and evaluated using test set. Empirical evidence on Malay sample of students shows that the DSFE-MLR recorded the highest accuracy compared to other classifiers. Besides, the method is able to recognize each of five Malay vowels correctly. In general, DSFE-MLR provides an increment of accuracy for Malay speech recognition

Cobalt containing glass fibres and their synergistic effect on the HIF-1 pathway for wound healing applications

Introduction and Methods: Chronic wounds are a major healthcare problem, but their healing may be improved by developing biomaterials which can stimulate angiogenesis, e.g. by activating the Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) pathway. Here, novel glass fibres were produced by laser spinning. The hypothesis was that silicate glass fibres that deliver cobalt ions will activate the HIF pathway and promote the expression of angiogenic genes. The glass composition was designed to biodegrade and release ions, but not form a hydroxyapatite layer in body fluid. Results and Discussion: Dissolution studies demonstrated that hydroxyapatite did not form. When keratinocyte cells were exposed to conditioned media from the cobalt-containing glass fibres, significantly higher amounts of HIF-1α and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) were measured compared to when the cells were exposed to media with equivalent amounts of cobalt chloride. This was attributed to a synergistic effect of the combination of cobalt and other therapeutic ions released from the glass. The effect was also much greater than the sum of HIF-1α and VEGF expression when the cells were cultured with cobalt ions and with dissolution products from the Co-free glass, and was proven to not be due to a rise in pH. The ability of the glass fibres to activate the HIF-1 pathway and promote VEGF expression shows the potential for their use in chronic wound dressings

Electroconductive Hydrogel Based on Functional Poly(Ethylenedioxy Thiophene).

Poly(ethylene dioxythiophene) with functional pendant groups bearing double bonds is synthesized and employed for the fabrication of electroactive hydrogels with advantageous characteristics: covalently cross-linked porous 3D scaffolds with notable swelling ratio, appropriate mechanical properties, electroactivity in physiological conditions, and suitability for proliferation and differentiation of C2C12 cells. This is a new approach for the fabrication of conductive engineered constructs

Electrostatic enhancement of light emitted by semiconductor quantum well

Carrier dynamics in metal-semiconductor structures is driven by electrodynamic coupling of carriers to the evanescent field of surface plasmons. Useful modifications in electron and hole dynamics due to presence of metallic inclusions show promise for applications from light emitters to communications. However, this picture does not include contributions from electrostatics. We propose here an electrostatic mechanism for enhancement of light radiated from semiconductor emitter which is comparable in effect to plasmonic mechanism Arising from Coulomb attraction of e-h pairs to their electrostatic images in metallic nanoparticles, this mechanism produces large carrier concentrations near the nanoparticle. A strong inhomogeneity in the carrier distribution and an increase in the internal quantum efficiency are predicted. In our experiments, this manifests as emission enhancement in InGaN quantum well (QW) radiating in the near-UV region. This fundamental mechanism provides a new perspective for improving the efficiency of broadband light emitters