Judul: Optimasi serat kenaf sebagai filler biokomposit dengan aditif serbuk daun tembakau pada aplikasi papan gipsum plafon.
Abstrak: Synthesis and characterization of biocomposite gypsum board ceiling based on kenaf fiber has been performed compression molding method with variation of woven and uniform filler. The optimum fiber concentration on the fiber are woven with 10 % kenaf fiber, 88 % matrixes gypsum, 1 % PVA (Polivinil Alcohol) and tobacco. The test resulted that the hardness and impact mechanical of the resulted product was higher than the commercial gypsum. The highest absorption of gypsum board is 25 % owned by fiber glass composite, on biocomposite with addition of tobbaco is 21 % and the lowest is 13 % on biocomposite without addition of tobbaco. The highest value on thickness development is 1.85 % owned by fiber glass composite. On biocomposite with addition of tobbaco is 1.73 % and the lowest is 0.4 % on biocomposite without addition of tobbaco. Density of biocomposite is 1.6 g cm-3, whereas density of fiber glass composite is 1.98 g cm-3. The test result showed that the kenaf’s fiber and tobbaco leaf powder is reliable to use as the filling material for the the gypsum plafon.
Keyword: mechanical properties, kenaf fiber, thickness development, absorption, biocomposite

Judul: Kualitas Papan Partikel Core Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) dengan Menggunakan Polipropilena Daur Ulang.
Abstrak: INTRODUCTION : Scarcity of raw materials for particleboard industry was occurred which is caused by the lack of wood supply that up till now comes from production functioned natural forest or planted forest. Wood supply from those areas has been decreased which is caused by less sustainable harvesting system and increasing of wood demands. Those conditions courage the ideas to find other ligno-cellulosed materials to replace wood; one of them are by using kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) core. Kenaf plant has been researched as substitute for particleboard raw material which composited by using formaldehyde adhesive (Puspita 2004; Susanta 2004; Ronaldi 2004). Utilization of formaldehyde adhesive has been appreciably produce negative impact to environment. To decrease negative impact from formaldehyde utilization, adhesive, which is used, could originate from plastic waste such as polypropylene which appreciable more eco-friendly, has high potential to be used, and produce better product dimensional stability. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Particleboard was made by mix kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) powder with polypropylene plastic. Mixture of those two materials consists of some kenaf powder/polypropylene mixture composition; those are 50:50, 40:60 and 30:70. Examined physical characters are density, moisture content, water absorption rate and thickness swelling rate. Examined mechanical characters are MOE, MOR, and screw holding power. RESULTS : From research results, utilization of kenaf powder/polypropylene mixture composition from 50:50 to 30:70 for particleboard production produce density, MOE, MOR and screw holding power with similar values. But, for physical character such as moisture content, water absorption rate and thickness swelling has different value, where the best kenaf powder/polypropylene mixture composition are 40:60 and 30:70.
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Judul: Infeksin virus rota pada anak babi
Abstrak: Virus Rota sudah lama diduga sebagai salah satu penyebab diare pada anak babi yang baru dilahirkan. Hal ini diperkuat dengan berhasilnya Mebus dan kawan-kawan mengidentifikasi virus Rota pada kejadian diare yang ter jadi pada anak sapi yang baru dilahirkan. Infeksi virus Rota merupakan hal yang serius, kejadian yang mewabah pernah dilaporkan di Amerika Serikat, Inggris, Kanada dan Australia. Sedangkan kejadian di Indonesia yang dihubungkan dengan infeksi virus Rota belum dilaporkan. Virus Rota termasuk keluarga Reo viridea. Sesuai dengan namanya, virus Rota menyerupai roda (Rota = Wheel), mengandung asam nukleat (nucleid acid) yang berupa asam nukleat ribo (ribo nucleid acid, RNA) dan berserabut ganda (double stranded), tidak mempunyai selubung (envelop atau peplos). Hewan rentan adalah hewan yang berumur sangat muda. Selain menyerang babi, dapat pula menyerang sapi, domba, rusa, anjing, kucing, tikus, kelinci, unggas dan manusia. ...
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