Judul: Pengaruh SWA (Super Water Absorbent) Pati Singkong Terhadap Sifat Retensi Air Tanah
Abstrak: The development of dry-land agriculture often face some constraints, especially when it is related to water needs which is depending on rainwater. Global climate change, that occurs lately has made rainfall patterns become more erratic and less predictable. Therefore, new technology that could help maintaining soil water content is needed to ensure that water availability for plant growth is still sufficient. SWA (Super Water Absorbent) cassava starch is one of a technology that can be used for this purpose. This study was aimed to assess the effect of SWA cassava starch and its comparison to the other water absorbent, for maintaining soil water retention on two different soil textures (clay and sandy clay). The results showed that addition of SWA cassava starch was not significantly different from the other soil water absorbent for maintaining soil water retention. SWA cassava starch performance at clay textured soil was better than sandy clay-textured soil.
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Judul: Pengaruh Aplikasi Basah Water Absorbent Pati Singkong Terhadap Sifat Retensi Air pada Tanah Bertekstur Pasir
Abstrak: Water retention is one of soil physical properties that indicate water availability tobe used by a plant. The low water retention ability is generally owned by sand textured soils such as former mine tailings and other sand texture of soils. Plant on soil with low water retention ability will quickly sustain of water stress that extreme condition will lead to permanent wilting. Common effort to overcome this problem is generally by high frequency irrigation. This effort is however inefficient. Other alterative is needed to solve this problem. Presently BATAN (Badan Tenaga Nuklir Nasional) introduce a Super Water Absorbent (SWA) of Cassava Starch that capable to retain water ± 300 than of it weight. Nevertheless, how the SWA work and influence soil water retention characteristic is still questionable. The study aimed to assess the effect of SWA on soil retention characterstic was carried in a green house of IPB. Results of the study showed that SWA application had no significantly effect on the amount of water retained by soil with very high sand. Organic matter and content of sand are influencing the soil capability in water holding and storing.
Keyword: Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), water retention, super water absorbent, sand textured soils

Judul: Transisi Fasa Materi Hadronik ke Materi Kuark pada Inti Bintang Neutron.
Abstrak: Bintang neutron terdiri dari beberapa lapisan yang disusun oleh materi nuklir yang berbeda dengan kerapatan yang semakin tinggi ketika mendekati pusat bintang. Inti luar bintang neutron disusun oleh materi hadronik (nukleon, lepton, dan hyperon), sedangkan inti dalam bintang neutron disusun oleh kuark-kuark bebas (up, down, strange) yang saling berinteraksi. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mempelajari bagaimana transisi dari inti luar ke inti dalam bintang neutron dengan menggunakan pendekatan RMF (Relativistic Mean Field) untuk materi hadronik dan CIDDM (Confined Isospin Density Dependent Mass) untuk materi kuark. Tekanan transisi diperoleh ketika potensial kimia barion materi hadronik dan materi kuark bernilai sama. Nilai tekanan transisi dengan parameter SU6-TM1 sekitar 87 MeV/fm3 dan diperoleh massa maksimum bintang neutron yaitu 1.92M dengan jari-jari sekitar 8.62 km. Nilai tekanan transisi dengan parameter SU6-G2 sekitar 53 MeV/fm3 dan massa maksimum bintang neutron yaitu 1.88M dengan jari-jari sekitar 8.16 km. Jenis transisi fasa adalah orde satu ditandai dengan diskontinuitas dalam kerapatan energi (adanya mixed phase). Parameter-parameter pada model nuklir yang digunakan menyebabkan perbedaan kekakuan persamaan keadaan (EOS) dari materi hadronik dan materi kuark sehingga nilai tekanan transisi dari fasa hadronik ke fasa kuark juga berbeda.
Keyword: bintang neutron, persamaan keadaan, transisi fasa