Judul: Pengembangan Bionanokomposit Film Berbasis Tapioka/Nanopartikel Perak dan Tapioka/Nanopartikel Seng Oksida dengan Plasticizer Gliserol.
Abstrak: Cassava starch can be formed into bioplastic film which is transparance as synthetic plastic films. However, pure cassava starch film has some drawbacks such as brittle, poor barrier to water vapour, sensitive to humidity and not stable during the application. The addition of nanoparticles in film was intended to increase the elongation and tensile strength, moisture stability and to provide antimicrobial activity. Meanwhile, the addition of glycerol was intended to increase the plasticity of films so they will not be easily cracked. The main purpose of this research is to elaborate the functional packaging characteristics of bionanocomposites films made from cassava starch with or without silver nanoparticles (Ag-Np) of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-Np) with glycerol as plasticizer. The addition of nanoparticles was conducted at the amount of 0%, 0,5%, and 1% by weight of the starch, whereas glycerol was used at the amount of 0% and 20% by weight of the solids (starch only or starch+nanoparticles). The value of water vapor transmission decreased significantly with the addition of Ag-Np and ZnO-Np at the concentration of 1% (from 18,0569 g/hm2 to 12,0574 g/hm2) so it enhance the water barrier of the films as packaging materials. The addition of Ag-Np and ZnO-Np at the amount of 1% with 20% of glycerol was also able to inreased the value of elongation (from 1,2% to 88,8%), but decreased the value of tensile strength (from 22,93 MPa to 4,03 MPa). The addition of glycerol gave contrary effect to the tensile strength because it produces low tensile strength values. Moreover, the results show that films made with ZnO-Np had a stronger antimicrobial activity than those made with Ag-Np for both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. In overall, it seems that the formulation of 1% ZnO-Np is the best formulation for developing bionanocomposite film based on cassava starch.
Keyword: Bionanocomposite Films, Silver Nanoparticle (Ag-Np), Zinc Oxide Nanoparticle (ZnO-Np), Cassava Starch, Antibacterial Films

Judul: Pengembangan bionanokomposit film berbasisi pati tapioka dan nanopartikel ZnO dengan plasticizer gliserol
Abstrak: Cassava starch is able to form transparent coatings and flexible films without using any chemical additives. However, films made from cassava starch only is poor in functional packaging properties. The main objective of this study was to enhance functional packaging properties of casava starch films by using zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) as reinforcing agent, and glycerol as plasticizer. Cassava starch/ZnO nanocomposite films were prepared at 4 levels of ZnO-NPs (0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 3.0 % by weight of starch) and 15 % of glycerol by weight of solid (cassava starch + ZnO-NPs). In this study, plasticized starch-ZnO nano-composite filmss were prepared by nanodispersion technique followed by solution casting method, and were analysed to determine its mechanical properties by tensile tests, the glass-transition temperature (Tg) by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and antimicrobial properties against three bacterial strains that commonly contaminate food products, e.g. Escerichia coli, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. The improvement in mechanical properties could be achieved with plasticization and ZnO-NPs incorporation. The incorporation of ZnO-NPs 3 % significantly induced antibacterial activities of the cassava starch films against Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus. Moreover, the glass-transition temperature of cassava starch increased with the increasing ZnO-NPs concentrations. Our results suggest that cassava starch films containing ZnO-NPs could be used as antibacterial food packaging material
Keyword: antibacterial packaging, ZnO nanoparticles, nanocomposite films, cassava starch film, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB)

Judul: Warna bulu kucing ras Persia : variasi pola warna dan pewarisannya
Abstrak: Kucing Persia merupakan kucing ras yang paling umum dijumpai di Indonesia. Kucing Persia memiliki bulu yang panjang dengan variasi warna bulu yang sangat beragam. Perkawinan yang lebih terarah sangat perlu dilakukan untuk meningkatkan kualitas genetik warna dan pola warna bulu kucing. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mempelajari variasi warna dan pola warna bulu kucing Persia yang terdapat di Indonesia, yang dilakukan di kantor pusat Cat Fancy Indonesia mulai bulan Oktober 2000 sampai Januari 2001. Data yang digunakan merupakan data pedigree kucing Persia yang tercatat di Cat Fancy Indonesia dari tahun 1997 sampai Oktober 2001 yang terdiri dari 187 jantan dan 258 betina, selain itu juga dilakukan pengamatan langsung kepada tiga penyayang dan breeder kucing yang ada di Bandung. Secara umum tercatat 104 penyayang dan breeder kucing ras di Indonesia, 74,04% terdapat di Jawa Barat dan sisanya (25%) terdapat di daerah Jakarta. Jumlah kucing Persia yang lahir di Indonesia adalah 387 kucing (87,16%), yang terdiri dari 163 (42,12%) jantan dan 224 (57,88%) betina. Jumlah kucing Persia yang diimpor ke Indonesia adalah sebanyak 57 (12,845%) yang terdiri dari 23 (40,35%) jantan dan 34 (59,65%) betina. Jumlah kucing Persia yang terdapat di Jawa Barat (84,14%) lebih banyak dibanding jumlah kucing Persia yang ada di Jakarta (14,86%). Secara umum warna bulu cream (9,01%) dan pola warna solid (34,01%) memiliki persentase tertinggi. Warna cream merupakan warna dilusi dari warna merah (red) yang dapat dihasilkan dari berbagai macam kombinasi warna bulu yang dimiliki tetua sebelumnya, sebagai contoh dari perkawinan tetua yang memiliki warna bulu cream dengan red smoke. Perkawinan antara tetua yang memiliki warna dan pola warna bulu yang tidak murni dapat menghasilkan turunan yang memiliki warna dan pola warna bulu yang bervariasi.
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