Judul: Model Kantong Plastik Belanja Ramah Lingkungan di Indonesia
(Studi Kasus: Kantong Plastik Biodegradable)
Abstrak: Plastic shopping bags have become a necessity because of its practical useful, as a container to carry grocery items and finally were used as trash carriers prior to final disposing into landfill. The use of plastic shopping bags in Indonesia increasingly exponential growth from year to year, making environmental problems such as flooding and landslides. The government has issued Law No. 18/2008 to address this issue. In line with the regulations for using of environmentally friendly plastic bags, some retailers and shopping centers has initiated the program by providing environmental friendly plastic shopping bags such as biodegradable and oxodegradable types. However, the component ingredients are added in processing of environmentally friendly plastic bag, so it makes price higher than the conventional one, which in turn is a burden on consumers. From FGD result, the issue of price is the problem in the using of environmentally friendly plastic shopping bags. The results of some AHP questionnaires which are filled by 36 respondents, and after processing the data with expert choice software, the highest choice is biodegradable (38.89%, followed by oxodegradable (36.11%), and conventional (25.0%). Distinguishing characteristics of the plastic shopping bags are conventional and biodegradable in the supermarket, both domestically and compare them with plastic shopping bags in supermarkets abroad. Many plastic shopping bags at the supermarket that is normally labeled biodegradable products in accordance with government regulations. There are also some plastic shopping bags that do not include a specific label, but to include eco-friendly and the like related to the environment. There needs to analyze the characteristics of various types of plastic bags labeled by using the apparatus to differentiate its characteristics. Bioplastics are plastics that are able to be degraded by microbes in the soil due to its starch content. Bioplastics are expected to be the solution of environmental problems caused by the plastic shopping bags waste which became an environmental burden. Commercially, bioplastics were already being produced with the variation of percentage cassava addition. However the problem regarding such matter is the price of the product is still expensive compared to conventional plastic bags, because the starches are still needed in food and energy sectors. In this study, bioplastic is made from extracted durian seeds starch to be mixed with LDPE plastic ores, with the variation addition of starch concentration by 0- 50%. For comparison, starch from sago is used, so that the physical characteristics such as color and mechanical properties such as tensile strength, elongation and hardness can be compared. Decreasing of bioplastics weight was evaluated with burial in soil for 8 weeks. Anova test results showed that types of starch and % starch are added, give no significant difference (p> 0.05) on weight loss of plastic except in color. SEM analysis was conducted to compare the cavity between starch molecules and plastic polymer at 2500x magnification, which causes plastic strength reduced and becomes brittle when being pulled. Addition of 10% durian seed starch is proven as optimal polymer substitution without additives in making bioplastics, with mechanical characteristics that can be compared with sago and cassava starch.
Keyword: plastic shopping bags, oxodegradable, biodegradable, environmental friendly

Judul: Rekayasa proses produksi bioplastik berbahan baku pati termoplastik dan polietilen
Abstrak: Plastics have been used widely for packaging materials. However, plastic wastes can pollute environment because of its persistency to be biodegraded by microorganisms. Efforts have been conducted to develop environmental friendly plastic from renewable resources. Problems encountered in the manufacture of bioplastic are poor physical-mechanical properties and incompatibility between hydrophilic/polar and hydrophobic/non-polar materials. The modification of raw materials and use of compatibilizer can be applied to improve the compatibility between the two material blends. The purpose of this study is to develop a process of manufacturing bioplastic by modifying the raw material characteristics and the use of compatibilizer. This study consisted of three steps, namely preparation of thermoplastic starch, preparation of maleic anhydride (MA) grafted with LLDPE/HDPE (LLDPE-g-MA/HDPE-g-MA) and manufacturing process of bioplastic. Thermoplastic was prepared by mixing distilled water and glycerol with tapioca, and then allowed to aging for 8 days to a mixture of distilled water and glycerol can be absorbed completely into raw materials (tapioca). Grafting of maleic anhydride with LLDPE/HDPE (LLDPE-g-MA and HDPE-g-MA) was carried out in a twin screw extruder. There were three levels of maleic anhidride concentration namely 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% (w/w) and dicumyl peroxide 0.1% (w/w polymer) used in this experiment. After mixing LLDPE-g-MA and HDPE-g-MA compatibilizer with thermoplastic starch (TPS), the resulting mixtures were then extrudered with LLDPE/HDPE. Four ratios between LLDPE/HDPE and TPS were investigated namely 0:100; 20:80; 40:60; and 60:40. The plastic properties observed included melt flow rate, density, thermal, mechanical, barrier, and degradation properties. The results showed that increasing thermoplastic starch content decreased melt flow rate, melting temperature, mechanical, oxygen transmition rate properties and increased density, water vapor transmition rate and its biodegradability. The presence of LLDPE-g-MA/HDPE-g-MA compatibilizer resulted in better physical and mechanical properties of bioplastic. The compatibilizer improved surface adhesion and decreased surface tension between TPS and LLDPE/HDPE matrix. The best formulation for wrapping applications was the LLDPE-TPS with 40% of TPS and 5% MA with 6,96% of grafting degree, whereas that for plastic bag applications was HDPE-TPS with 30% of TPS and 7,5% MA with 3,21% of grafting degree. Stability tests of bioplastic TPS-LLDPE and TPS-HDPE for packaging applications at room and low temperature showed no significant changes in the mechanical properties, permeability, and morphology, and therefore the product has the ability to maintain mechanical properties at low temperature.
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Judul: Infeksi Virus Parainfluenza Pada Anjing
Abstrak: Virus parainfluenza anjing termasuk famili Paramyxoviridae, berbentuk pleomorf dengan ukuran bervariasi (bergaris tengah antara 100-500 nm), berpembungkus peka ether, berisi genom RNA dan secara serologis mempunyai kesamaan dengan virus SV-5 kera; dikenak sebagai salah satu kausa penting dari sindrom "kennel cough". Infeksinya dapat mengenai anjing semua umur yang belum pernah terinfeksi atau mendapatkan vaksinasi mengakibatkan gejala klinis ringan yang terbatas pada traktus respirasi atu infeksi yang secara klinis tidak memperlihatkan gejala nyata. Gejala klinis yang nampak setelah masa inkubasi (1-5 hari) terlewati berupa batuk yang tidak berat selama beberapa hari, berbagai tingkat tonsilitis dan pharyngitis dan kadang-kadang ditemukan kenaikan temperatur rektal antara 1-2 derajat C dari temperatur normal rat-rata. Anjing terinfeksi mengandung virus pada traktus respirasi bagian atas dan bawah serta limfonoduli sampai hari ke 9 setelah infeksi. Penyebaran virus antar anjing terjadi secara aerogen.
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