Phytotoxicity of volatile oil from Eucalyptus citriodora against some weedy species

A study was undertaken to explore the phytotoxicity of volatile essential oil from Eucalyptus citriodora Hook. against some weeds viz. Bidens pilosa, Amaranthus viridis, Rumex nepalensis, and Leucaena leucocephala in order to assess its herbicidal activity. Dose-response studies conducted under laboratory conditions revealed that eucalypt oils (in concentration ranging from 0.0012 to 0.06 %) greatly suppress the germination and seedling height of test weeds. At 0.06 % eucalypt oil concentration, none of the seed of test weeds germinated. Among the weed species tested, A. viridis was found to be the most sensitive and its germination was completed inhibited even at 0.03%. Not only the germination and seedling growth, even the chlorophyll content and respiratory activity in leaves of emerged seedlings were severely affected. In A. viridis chlorophyll content and respiratory activity were reduced by over 51% and 71%, respectively, even at a very low concentration of 0.06%. These results indicated an adverse effect of eucalypt oils on the photosynthetic and energy metabolism of the test weeds. A strong negative correlation was observed between the observed effect and the concentration of eucalypt oil. Based on the study, it can be concluded that oil from E. citriodora possess strong inhibitory potential against weeds that could be exploited for weed management

Histokomparatif Organ Integumen, Intestinum, Pohon Respirasi Pada Beberapa Jenis Teripang Dari Perairan Karimunjawa

Sea cucumbers, which have significant economic values, belong to the order of Aspidochirotida, with the two main family, i.e. Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae. Biological aspect of those species has not been exploited yet, therefore he aim of this research is to compare organ histology of the species of sea cucumbers H. atra, H. edulis, P. graeffei, S. chloronotus, and S. herrmanni. This research was held on August-December 2011 and histologically. The result of this research showed that integument of H. atra, H. edulis, P. graeffei, S. chloronotus, dan S. herrmanni consist of epidermis which composed by fibril cells and dermis layer which composed by connective tissue. Intestinum of Holothuriidae is different from Stichopodidae as follows : H. atra ±10 μm form a bugles with flat ends, S. chloronotus ±40 μm form a smooth bugles with pointed ends and closely, and S. herrmanni ±30 μm form a smooth bugles with pointed ends and distantly. The respiratory trees of Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae in general had similarity. Bases on these differences can be concluded that sea cucumbers cultivation techniques need adjustment habitat and consumption of different types of feed each sea cucumbers

Inventarisasi Jamu Madura yang Dimanfaatkan untuk Pengobatan atau Perawatan Gangguan Kesehatan Berkaitan dengan Fungsi Reproduksi Wanita

Madura traditional herbal medicine ("Jamu Madura") especially woman reproductive remedies are wellknown. This research was done to inventory "jamu Madura" since they have already been used empirically for along time. 19 industries in Bangkalan, Sampang, Pamekasan and Sumenep regencies were visited to get the information. Indepth interviews to the employees were done, 57 samples of "jamu" collected from 16 industries were observed. The result showed that woman reproductive remedies consisted of 11 jamu", they were "rapat", "keputihan", "galian putri", "terlambat haid", "haid tidak teratur atau pelancar haid", "bersalin", "subur kandungan", "melancarkan air susu ibu", "menjarangkan anak", "perawatan kehamilan", "pengantin". The names of these "jamu" related to the ''jamu" effects happened in the USAge bodies. Each "jamu" consist of 10 to 30 herbs which were major and ajuvant ingredients. They loved to put aromatic herb. They prepared powder poured with hot water and pill more than capsul. The packaging and labelling were moderate and some of them did not meet the Ministry of Health regulation of traditional medicine. The retailer were rare, generally the products were marketed by the industry. This study recommended to developt the production process and the packaging to meet the demand and modem technology

A Very Large Array 3.6cm continuum survey of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars

We report the results of a survey of radio continuum emission of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars north of declination -46 degrees. The observations were obtained at 8.46 GHz (3.6cm) using the Very Large Array (VLA), with an angular resolution of about 6 x 9 arcsec and typical rms noise of 0.04 mJy/beam. Our survey of 34 WR stars resulted in 15 definite and 5 probable detections, 13 of these for the first time at radio wavelengths. All detections are unresolved. Time variations in flux are confirmed in the cases of WR98a, WR104, WR105 and WR125. WR79a and WR89 are also variable in flux and we suspect they are also non-thermal emitters. Thus, of our sample 20-30% of the detected stars are non-thermal emiters. Average mass loss rates determinations obtained excluding definite and suspected non-thermal cases give similar values for WN (all subtypes) and WC5-7 stars, while a lower value was obtained for WC8-9 stars. Uncertainties in stellar distances largely contribute to the observed scatter in mass loss rates. Upper limits to the mass loss rates were obtained in cases of undetected sources or for sources which probably show additional non-thermal emission.Comment: 21 pages, Latex, 21 postscript figures, to be published in The Astronomical Journal, May 200

Chemical composition and inhibitory activity of essential oil from decaying leaves of Eucalyptus citriodora

A study was undertaken to explore the content and composition of volatile oil from decaying leaves of lemon-scented eucalypt (Eucalyptus citriodora Hook.) not analyzed earlier. GC and GC-MS analysis of the oil (yield 0.6%) revealed the monoterpenoid nature with citronellal (52.2%), citronellol (12.3%) and isoisopulegol (11.9%) as the major constituents. Overall, 17 components were identified that accounted for over 94% of the decaying leaf oil. Surprisingly, the decaying leaf oil contained nearly 1.8% of trans-rose oxide, which is generally absent in eucalypt essential oil. Decaying leaf oil and its major 2 components (citronellal and citronellol) inhibited the germination and root elongation of two weeds Ð Cassia occidentalis (broad-leaved) and Echinochloa crus-galli (grassy weed). Based on the dose-response studies, I 50 values were determined for decaying leaf oil and the effect was more on germination only of broad-leaved weed (C. occidentalis), whereas that of citronellal and citronellol were on germination as well as root length of E. crus-galli (grassy weed). Based on I 50 values it was observed that citronellal was more phytotoxic and germination inhibiting in nature, whereas citronellol was a more potent root inhibitor, thereby indicating a possible different mode of action. The study concludes that decaying leaf oil hold a good commercial value for exploitation as weed management agent

INVENTARISASI JAMU MADURA YANG DIMANFAATKAN UNTUK PENGOBATAN ATAU PERAWATAN GANGGUAN KESEHATAN BERKAITAN DENGAN FUNGSI REPRODUKSI WANITA

Madura traditional herbal medicine ("Jamu Madura") especially woman reproductive remedies are wellknown. This research was done to inventory "jamu Madura" since they have already been used empirically for along time. 19 industries in Bangkalan, Sampang, Pamekasan and Sumenep regencies were visited to get the information. Indepth interviews to the employees were done, 57 samples of "jamu" collected from 16 industries were observed. The result showed that woman reproductive remedies consisted of 11 jamu", they were "rapat", "keputihan", "galian putri", "terlambat haid", "haid tidak teratur atau pelancar haid", "bersalin", "subur kandungan", "melancarkan air susu ibu", "menjarangkan anak", "perawatan kehamilan", "pengantin". The names of these "jamu" related to the ''jamu" effects happened in the usage bodies. Each "jamu" consist of 10 to 30 herbs which were major and ajuvant ingredients. They loved to put aromatic herb. They prepared powder poured with hot water and pill more than capsul. The packaging and labelling were moderate and some of them did not meet the Ministry of Health regulation of traditional medicine. The retailer were rare, generally the products were marketed by the industry. This study recommended to developt the production process and the packaging to meet the demand and modem technology

Globules and pillars seen in the [CII] 158 micron line with SOFIA

Molecular globules and pillars are spectacular features, found only in the interface region between a molecular cloud and an HII-region. Impacting Far-ultraviolet (FUV) radiation creates photon dominated regions (PDRs) on their surfaces that can be traced by typical cooling lines. With the GREAT receiver onboard SOFIA we mapped and spectrally resolved the [CII] 158 micron atomic fine-structure line and the highly excited 12CO J=11-10 molecular line from three objects in Cygnus X (a pillar, a globule, and a strong IRAS source). We focus here on the globule and compare our data with existing Spitzer data and recent Herschel Open-Time PACS data. Extended [CII] emission and more compact CO-emission was found in the globule. We ascribe this emission mainly to an internal PDR, created by a possibly embedded star-cluster with at least one early B-star. However, external PDR emission caused by the excitation by the Cyg OB2 association cannot be fully excluded. The velocity-resolved [CII] emission traces the emission of PDR surfaces, possible rotation of the globule, and high-velocity outflowing gas. The globule shows a velocity shift of ~2 km/s with respect to the expanding HII-region, which can be understood as the residual turbulence of the molecular cloud from which the globule arose. This scenario is compatible with recent numerical simulations that emphazise the effect of turbulence. It is remarkable that an isolated globule shows these strong dynamical features traced by the [CII]-line, but it demands more observational studies to verify if there is indeed an embedded cluster of B-stars.Comment: Letter accepted by A&A (SOFIA special issue

Spatially resolved STIS spectra of WR+OB binaries with colliding winds

We present spatially resolved spectra of the visual WR+OB massive binaries WR86, WR146, and WR147, obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope. The systems are classified as follows: WR86 = WC7 + B0 III, WR146 = WC6 + O8 I-IIf, WR147 = WN8 + O5-7 I-II(f). Both WR146 and WR147 are known to have strong non-thermal radio emission arising in a wind-wind collision shock zone between the WR and OB components. We find that the spectra of their O companions show Halpha profiles in emission, indicative of large mass-loss rates, and consistent with the colliding-wind model. Our spectra indicate that the B component in WR86 has a low mass-loss rate, which possibly explains the fact that WR86, despite being a long period WR+OB binary, was not found to be a strong non-thermal radio emitter. Because of the small mass-loss rate of the B star component in WR86, the wind collision region must be closer to the B star and smaller in effective area, hence generating smaller amounts of non-thermal radio emission. Absolute magnitudes for all the stars are estimated based on the spectral types of the components (based on the tables by Schmidt-Kaler for OB stars, and van der Hucht for WR stars), and compared with actual, observed magnitude differences. While the derived luminosities for the WC7 and B0 III stars in WR86 are consistent with the observed magnitude difference, we find a discrepancy of at least 1.5 magnitudes between the observed luminosities of the components in each of WR146 and WR147 and the absolute magnitudes expected from their spectral types. In both cases, it looks as though either the WR components are about 2 magnitudes too bright for their spectral types, or that the O components are about 2 magnitudes too faint. We discuss possible explanations for this apparent discrepancy.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Managing obesity through mobile phone applications: a state-of-the-art review from a user-centred design perspective

Evidence has shown that the trend of increasing obesity rates has continued in the last decade. Mobile phone applications, benefiting from their ubiquity, have been increasingly used to address this issue. In order to increase the applications’ acceptance and success, a design and development process that focuses on users, such as User-Centred Design, is necessary. This paper reviews reported studies that concern the design and development of mobile phone applications to prevent obesity, and analyses them from a User-Centred Design perspective. Based on the review results, strengths and weaknesses of the existing studies were identified. Identified strengths included: evidence of the inclusion of multidisciplinary skills and perspectives; user involvement in studies; and the adoption of iterative design practices. Weaknesses included the lack of specificity in the selection of end-users and inconsistent evaluation protocols. The review was concluded by outlining issues and research areas that need to be addressed in the future, including: greater understanding of the effectiveness of sharing data between peers; privacy; and guidelines for designing for behavioural change through mobile phone applications

Determinant Factors of Dividend Payments in Brazil

This study identifies factors that shaped cash disbursement distribution policies employed by Brazilian public companies listed on the Brazilian Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange (BM&FBOVESPA) from 1995 to 2011. Relationships between Dividends/Total Assets and potential determinants discussed in the literature, including firm size, corporate governance, profitability, leverage, market to book, liquidity, investment, risk, profit growth, information asymmetry and agency conflict, are examined. The following econometric methods are employed: (1) Tobit, given the nature of the dividend data, and (2) the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to control for endogenous regressors. Significant positive variables found include size, return on assets (ROA), market to book, liquidity and profit growth. It can thus be inferred that larger firm size, profitability, market value, liquidity and profit growth correlate with greater firm pro pensity to distribute money to shareholders, thus supporting the theory of corporate finance. Significant negative variables found include leverage, liquidity squared, capex, beta and tag along 100%. It is thus inferred that more significantly leveraged companies that invest more heavily in fixed assets and that exhibit high liquidity, higher risk and less conflict between controlling and minority shareholders will be less likely to pay dividends to shareholders.</p