KAJIAN POTENSI UNTUK STRATEGI PENGEMBANGAN OBYEK WISATA PANTAI WATU DODOL KECAMATAN KALIPURO KABUPATEN BANYUWANGI PROVINSI JAWA TIMUR

AbstrakDi Banyuwangi ada tiga obyek wisata yang berdekatan yaitu: Watu Dodol, Pulau Merah dan Grajagan. Pengunjung wisata Watu Dodol pada 6 tahun terakhir berjumlah 226.336. Pengunjung wisata Pulau Merah pada 3 tahun terakhir berjumlah 995.586. Pengunjung wisata Grajagan pada 6 tahun terakhir berjumlah 334.107. Jumlah pengunjung Watu Dodol adalah yang terendah dibanding dua wisata pantai lainnya. Obyek wisata yang ada dan munculnya tempat-tempat wisata pantai baru juga bisa menjadi salah satu penyebab jumlah wisatawan sedikit. Penelitian ini dilakukan bertujuan untuk mengetahui potensi yang dimiliki obyek wisata Watu Dodol dan strategi yang sesuai dalam pengembangan obyek wisata Watu Dodol.Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kuantitatif dengan analisa SWOT. Populasi penelitian dalam penelitian ini wisatawan yang berkunjung di Watu Dodol. Sampel Penelitian Accidental Sampling. Variabel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini antara lain atraksi wisata, aksesibilitas, sarana prasarana, dan promosi.Hasil penelitian menunjukkan potensi yang dimiliki obyek wisata Watu Dodol yang mendukung pengembangan kepariwisataan yaitu atraksi wisata, aksesibilitas, sarana prasarana, dan promosi. Strategi pengembangan obyek wisata Watu Dodol berdasarkan analisis SWOT terdapat di posisi kuadran I. Industri pariwisata yang kuat dan berpeluang ditunjukkan di posisi ini. Rekomendasi strategi yang diberikan adalah agresif.Kata Kunci: potensi, pengembanga

Epigenetic regulation of CXCR4 signaling in cancer pathogenesis and progression

Signaling involving chemokine receptor CXCR4 and its ligand SDF-1/CXL12 has been investigated for many years for its possible role in cancer progression and pathogenesis. Evidence emerging from clinical studies in recent years has further established diagnostic as well as prognostic importance of CXCR4 signaling. CXCR4 and SDF-1 are routinely reported to be elevated in tumors, distant metastases, which correlates with poor survival of patients. These findings have kindled interest in the mechanisms that regulate CXCR4/SDF-1 expression. Of note, there is a particular interest in the epigenetic regulation of CXCR4 signaling that may be responsible for upregulated CXCR4 in primary as well as metastatic cancers. This review first lists the clinical evidence supporting CXCR4 signaling as putative cancer diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarker, followed by a discussion on reported epigenetic mechanisms that affect CXCR4 expression. These mechanisms include regulation by non-coding RNAs, such as, microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs and circular RNAs. Additionally, we also discuss the regulation of CXCR4 expression through methylation and acetylation. Better understanding and appreciation of epigenetic regulation of CXCR4 signaling can invariably lead to identification of novel therapeutic targets as well as therapies to regulate this oncogenic signaling.Open Access funding for this article has been provided by the Qatar National Library

Thermodynamic analysis of methanation of palm empty fruit bunch (PEFB) pyrolysis oil with and without in situ CO2 sorption

Thermodynamic equilibrium analysis for conversion of palm empty fruit bunch (PEFB) bio-oil to methane using low-temperature steam reforming (LTSR) process was conducted by assuming either isothermal or adiabatic condition, with and without sorption enhancement (SE-LTSR), with CaO(S) or Ca(OH)2(S) as CO2 sorbent. Temperatures of 300-800 K, molar steam to carbon (S/C) ratios of 0.3-7.0, pressures of 1-30 atm and molar calcium to carbon ratios (Ca:C) of 0.3-1.0 were simulated. For reasons of process simplicity, the best conditions for CH4 production were observed for the adiabatic LTSR process without sorption at S/C between 2.5 and 3 (compared to the stoichiometric S/C of 0.375), inlet temperature above 450 K, resulting in reformer temperature of 582 K, where close to the theoretical maximum CH4 yield of 38 wt % of the simulated dry PEFB oil was obtained, resulting in a reformate consisting of 44.5 vol % CH4, 42.7 vol % CO2 and 12.7 vol % H2 and requiring only moderate heating mainly to partially preheat the reactants. Temperatures and S/C below these resulted in high risk of carbon by-product

Structure and Dynamics of a Fusion Peptide Helical Hairpin on the Membrane Surface: Comparison of Molecular Simulations and NMR

The conserved N-terminal residues of the HA2 subunit of influenza hemagglutinin (fusion peptide) are essential for membrane fusion and viral entry. Recent NMR studies showed that the 23-residue fusion peptide forms a helical hairpin that undergoes rocking motion relative to the membrane surface on a nanosecond time scale. To compare with NMR and to obtain a detailed molecular picture of the peptide–membrane interaction, we performed molecular dynamics simulations of the fusion peptide in explicit dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine and with the IMM1 implicit membrane model. To account for low and neutral pH conditions, simulations were performed with acidic groups (E11 and D19) protonated and unprotonated, respectively. The hairpin structure was stable in the simulations, with the N-terminal helix buried more deeply into the hydrophobic membrane interior than the C-terminal helix. Interactions between the tryptophans in the fusion peptide and phospholipid residues contribute to peptide orientation. Higher flexibility of the hairpin was observed in the implicit membrane simulations. Internal correlation functions of backbone N–H vectors were fit to the extended Lipari–Szabo model-free approach to obtain order parameters and correlation times. Good agreement with the NMR results was obtained for orientational fluctuations around the hairpin axis (rotation), but those around the perpendicular axis (tilting) were more limited in the simulations than inferred from the NMR experiments

Sistem Pementoran Berstrategi di Kalangan Staf Akademik PPD SPACE UTM

Kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan membina satu sistem pementoran secara berstrategi untuk diguna pakai dan mengenal pasti tahap kesediaan staf akademik di PPD SPACE UTM terhadap sistem ini. Banyak kepentingan dan faedah sistem pementoran kepada staf akademik dan organisasi terutamanya dari segi kenaikan pangkat, pengurusan bakat dan lain-lain. Kajian ini melibatkan 87 responden daripada 94 populasi staf akademik di PPD SPACE UTM di Kampus Kuala Lumpur dan Johor Bahru. Data telah dikumpulkan melalui instrumen borang soal selidik yang telah diedarkan kepada semua staf akademik. Hasil daripada kajian literatur yang telah dilaksanakan, satu sistem pementoran berstrategi telah dibangunkan iaitu objektif kajian pertama. Bagi objektif kedua, analisis kajian mendapati bahawa 97.70% staf akademik bersedia menerima pelaksanaan pementoran berstrategi. Didapati bahawa, faktor kepentingan sistem mentor-menti yang utama kepada staf akademik adalah dapat meningkatkan keberkesanan pengajaran, penyelidikan dan perkembangan profesional iaitu 56.32%. Manakala 28.74% menyatakan pementoran menyokong prestasi kenaikan pangkat di kalangan staf dan 5.75% menyatakan ia meningkatkan minat dalam kerjaya akademik. Dan masing-masing 4.60% berpendapat faedah kepentingan sistem pementoran ini dapat mempromosikan perkembangan kerjaya dan kepuasan serta 4.60% lagi menyatakan ia dapat meningkatkan produktiviti PPD SPACE UTM. Kesimpulannya, terdapat banyak kepentingan yang boleh diperoleh dari sistem pementoran berstrategi ini. Sokongan dan komitmen daripada staf akademik dan pihak pengurusan tertinggi UTMSPACE adalah diperlukan bagi menjayakan program pementoran berstrategi di peringkat PPD SPACE UTM dan seterusnya dikembangkan di peringkat UTMSPACE secara keseluruhannya