The effects of different indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) concentrations, two light regimes of in vitro rooting and acclimatization of in vitro teak (Tectona grandis L.f) plantlets

Effects of different indole-3-butyric (IBA) concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 5.0 mg/l), two light regimes of in vitro rooting and acclimatization on in vitro teak (Tectona grandis L.f) were investigated. Shoots incubated in the light produced higher mean number of roots (2.0) and mean root length of 15.0 and 4.5 mm when supplemented with low IBA concentrations of 0.5 and 1.0 mg/l, respectively. Conversely, when shoots were incubated in the dark, higher mean number of roots (8.0 and 3.0) and mean root lengths (14.0 and 8.8 mm) were produced when supplemented with higher IBA concentrations of 2.0 and 3.0 mg/l, respectively. IBA was found necessary for root induction and growth in light and dark where 2.0 mg/l was optimum as it recorded high mean number of root (6.0 and 8.0) with mean root lengths of 11.8 and 14.0 mm, respectively. High survival percentage of 80% was recorded forthose plantlets raised in “jiffy-7” but survival reduced to 40% when grown in the autoclaved soil after one week

The effects of different indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) concentrations, two light regimes of in vitro rooting and acclimatization of in vitro teak (Tectona grandis L.f) plantlets

Effects of different indole-3-butyric (IBA) concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 5.0 mg/l), two light regimes of in vitro rooting and acclimatization on in vitro teak (Tectona grandis L.f) were investigated. Shoots incubated in the light produced higher mean number of roots (2.0) and mean root length of 15.0 and 4.5 mm when supplemented with low IBA concentrations of 0.5 and 1.0 mg/l, respectively. Conversely, when shoots were incubated in the dark, higher mean number of roots (8.0 and 3.0) and mean root lengths (14.0 and 8.8 mm) were produced when supplemented with higher IBA concentrations of 2.0 and 3.0 mg/l, respectively. IBA was found necessary for root induction and growth in light and dark where 2.0 mg/l was optimum as it recorded high mean number of root (6.0 and 8.0) with mean root lengths of 11.8 and 14.0 mm, respectively. High survival percentage of 80% was recorded for those plantlets raised in "jiffy-7" but survival reduced to 40% when grown in the autoclaved soil after one week

Microcrystalline Cellulose (MCC) from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) Fiber via Simultaneous Ultrasonic and Alkali Treatment

In this study, microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was extracted from oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) cellulose which was earlier isolated from oil palm EFB fibre. In order to isolate the cellulose, the chlorination method was carried out. Then, the MCC was prepared by simultaneous ultrasonic and alkali treatment from the isolated α-cellulose. Based on mass balance calculation, the yields for MCC obtained from EFB was 44%. For fiber characterization, it is observed that the chemical composition of the hemicellulose and lignin for all samples decreased while composition for cellulose increased. The structural property of the MCC was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) method and the result shows that the MCC produced is a cellulose-I polymorph, with 73% crystallinity

Flood risk index pattern assessment: case study in Langat River Basin

This study focus on the creation of flood risk index in the study area based on secondary data derived from the Department of Drainage and Irrigation (DID) since 1982-2012. Based on the result, it shows that the water level is the best variable to be taken for the purposed of flood warning alert system as the result for correlation coefficient was 1.000. The risk index has been created from the control limit value with range from 0-100. Result showed that 16.63% out of total result being classified as High Risk class for flood with risk index range from 70 and above. The accuracy of prediction of risk index being clarified by using ANN method and result obtained was 0.9936798 and the lowest RMSE of 0.662591 on the three hidden nodes to achieve an optimal result. The future prediction for UCL for water level in the river basin was 3.6 meter.Keywords: flood risk index; PCA; SPC; artificial neural network; future predictio

NMEP based Gaussian Mutation Process on Optimizing Fitness Function for MOEED

The increment of Economic Dispatch (ED) problem is very distressing today. In view of countless of the researchers doing the research to minimize the ED problem day after day, the multi objective New Meta Heuristic Evolutionary Programming (NMEP) techniques are proposed to optimize the multi objective function in ED problem called as Multi Objective Environmental Economic Dispatch (MOEED). The techniques mimic the original Meta Heuristic Evolutionary Programming (Meta-EP) and merge with Artificial Immune System (AIS) with some improvement in Gaussian mutation process and cloning process. The NMEP produced two objective function result simultaneously by exercising the weighted sum method. In order to justify the result, the comparison between the NMEP and Meta-EP techniques is conducted with difference case number of alpha. Therefore, the outcome of the simulation shows the NMEP approach is better than Meta-EP in the both case numbers of alpha. The simulation is operated using MATLAB simulation based on standard IEEE 26 bus system in the laboratory

Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Shielding Effectiveness (SE) of Unsaturated Polyester Resin with Carbon Black Fillers

This paper presents the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness (SE) investigation of carbon black filled polyester composites. The composition of the polymer composite ranging from 4, 6, 8 and 10wt % of carbon black to unsaturated polyester resin was prepared. Two types of carbon black were used in this project, carbon black derived from water hyacinth and commercially available activated carbon black. The S (scattering)-parameters (S11 and S21) of polyester composites were measured and compared between the two types of carbon black; carbon black derived from water hyacinth and activated carbon black. The shielding effectiveness was determined from measured S11 and S21 parameters. It was observed that the shielding effectiveness of the composites is frequency dependent and filler loading dependent. According to the results, the contribution of absorption to shielding effectiveness of both carbon blacks is greater than 83 % at 3 GHz. The analyzed results showed that the percentage of shielding effectiveness of polyester composite reinforced with naturally derived carbon black is similar to those with activated carbon black. The result also showed that the contribution of absorption to the shielding effectiveness was larger than that of reflection. This research suggests that polyester composite with carbon black derived naturally from water hyacinth can be used as a replacement for the commercially available activated carbon black as a shielding material in medical applications

Determination of ultra-morphological changes of trichophyton rubrum treated with hydroxychavicol

Introduction: Trichophyton rubrum is a common pathogenic fungal species that is responsible for causing infection of human skin, hair and nail. The antifungal-resistant strains however, complicate the treatment regime. Hydroxychavicol (HC) is one of the main compounds from the Piper betel leaf that have antifungal potential and its mechanism of action has yet to be studied. This study was carried out to determine the antifungal properties of HC against Trichophyton rubrum using transmission electron microscope (TEM) on gross and ultrastructure of Trichophyton rubrum hypha. Methods: Broth dilution method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of HC and miconazole (MI) against the Trichophyton rubrum (ATCC 28188). Trichophyton rubrum was treated with HC and MI at concentrations of 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10 mg/mL for 1, 3, 5 and 7 days continuously. Results: The MIC results of the HC and MI against Trichophyton rubrum were 0.00048 mg/mL and 0.000061 mg/mL respectively. MFC results showed 0.0019 mg/mL for HC and 0.000061 mg/mL for MI. Microscopically, the fungi structures became more severely damaged at increasing treatment duration. The cell wall of the fungi treated with HC showed a rough surface, shrinkage and demolition similar to that of the MI treated group. The fungi organelles were also demolished and disorganized. Conclusions: This study reveals that HC has the ability to inhibit Trichophyton rubrum growth and it has the potential to be an antifungal agent especially in treating dermatitis. KEYWORDS: Piper betel, Trichophyton rubrum, hydroxychavicol, miconazole, antifunga

Facile Synthesis of Copper Nanoparticles in Glycerol at Room Temperature: Formation Mechanism

A copper sol is usually synthesized by the reduction of a copper precursor with a suitable reducing agent in the presence of a stabilizer. There are few reports regarding the preparation of copper nanoparticles in glycerol without using a stabilizing agent, but at elevated temperatures. The formation of reduced copper (Cu0) is usually verified by a UV-vis spectrophotometer where a ‘red copper sol’ was formed. In the present paper we synthesized the copper sol at room temperature in a glycerol medium using hydrazine as a reducing agent. The chemical states of copper in the sol and their composition were analyzed by X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy (XANES) with the linear composition fitting method. A series-parallel mechanism of the reaction was proposed. An average particle size of 5 ± 1 nm was visualized via transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

A New Meta Heuristic Evolutionary Programming (NMEP) in Optimizing Economic Energy Dispatch

Economic and efficient energy dispatch management is compulsory to address the growth in energy demand within a limited energy resources whereas maintaining the secure power system operation. Many researches were conducted to study and develop new tools to overcome the problems during Economic Dispatch (ED) implementation. Mainly, ED problems considered on the total cost minimization at the same time the obligation of social attentions have inclined in reducing the energy conservation and pollution emission produced by power plants. As a result, a new algorithm was developed not only in minimizing the total generation cost but with an addition on minimum total emission and less system losses as the individual objective function in ED. The proposed optimization algorithm, namely New Meta-Heuristic Evolutionary Programming (NMEP) algorithm is followed to Meta-Heuristic Evolutionary Programming (Meta-EP) approach with some modification where the cloning process embedded as a significant progress during the implementation. This approach is utilized specifically to solve the single objective function which considered as minimum total generation cost, less sum of polluted emission and also a reduced amount in power system losses. The comparison evaluation between the original Meta-EP is conducted in order to show the effectiveness of the identified NMEP to overcome the ED issues. As a result, the best answer of the corresponding individual objective functions produced through NMEP approach. The simulation is tested on standard IEEE 26 bus system using the MATLAB software programming