Research on Panels Fabricated by Fibers Derived from Kenaf Bast after Environmental Restoration

AbstractIn several species, Piwi/piRNA genome silencing defects cause immediate sterility that correlates with transposon expression and transposon-induced genomic instability. In C. elegans, mutations in the Piwi-related gene (prg-1) and other piRNA deficient mutants cause a transgenerational decline in fertility over a period of several generations. Here we show that the sterility of late generation piRNA mutants correlates poorly with increases in DNA damage signaling. Instead, sterile individuals consistently exhibit altered perinuclear germ granules. We show that disruption of germ granules does not activate transposon expression but induces multiple phenotypes found in sterile prg-1 pathway mutants. Furthermore, loss of the germ granule component pgl-1 enhances prg-1 mutant infertility. Environmental restoration of germ granule function for sterile pgl-1 mutants restores their fertility. We propose that Piwi mutant sterility is a reproductive arrest phenotype that is characterized by perturbed germ granule structure and is phenocopied by germ granule dysfunction, independent of genomic instability.

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Improved Hydrophobicity of Macroalgae Biopolymer Film Incorporated with Kenaf Derived CNF Using Silane Coupling Agent

Molecules ◽

10.3390/molecules26082254 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (8) ◽

pp. 2254

Author(s):

Adeleke A. Oyekanmi ◽

N. I. Saharudin ◽

Che Mohamad Hazwan ◽

Abdul Khalil H. P. S. ◽

Niyi G. Olaiya ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thermal Stability ◽

Coupling Agent ◽

Silane Coupling Agent ◽

Cellulose Nanofibrils ◽

Hydroxyl Groups ◽

Water Contact ◽

Silane Coupling ◽

Cnf Films ◽

Kenaf Bast ◽

Thermal Stability Of

Hydrophilic behaviour of carrageenan macroalgae biopolymer, due to hydroxyl groups, has limited its applications, especially for packaging. In this study, macroalgae were reinforced with cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) isolated from kenaf bast fibres. The macroalgae CNF film was after that treated with silane for hydrophobicity enhancement. The wettability and functional properties of unmodified macroalgae CNF films were compared with silane-modified macroalgae CNF films. Characterisation of the unmodified and modified biopolymers films was investigated. The atomic force microscope (AFM), SEM morphology, tensile properties, water contact angle, and thermal behaviour of the biofilms showed that the incorporation of Kenaf bast CNF remarkably increased the strength, moisture resistance, and thermal stability of the macroalgae biopolymer films. Moreover, the films’ modification using a silane coupling agent further enhanced the strength and thermal stability of the films apart from improved water-resistance of the biopolymer films compared to unmodified films. The morphology and AFM showed good interfacial interaction of the components of the biopolymer films. The modified biopolymer films exhibited significantly improved hydrophobic properties compared to the unmodified films due to the enhanced dispersion resulting from the silane treatment. The improved biopolymer films can potentially be utilised as packaging materials.

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Use of system dynamics modelling in design of an environmental restoration banking institution

Ecological Economics ◽

10.1016/j.ecolecon.2007.05.013 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 65 (1) ◽

pp. 63-75 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Steve Arquitt ◽

Ron Johnstone

Keyword(s):

System Dynamics ◽

Environmental Restoration ◽

System Dynamics Modelling ◽

Dynamics Modelling ◽

Banking Institution

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Fluid landscapes, sovereign nature: Conservation and counterinsurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Critique of Anthropology ◽

10.1177/0308275x16671786 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 67-92 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Mona Bhan ◽

Nishita Trisal

Keyword(s):

Nature Conservation ◽

Water Resources ◽

Environmental Stewardship ◽

State Sovereignty ◽

Political Control ◽

Environmental Restoration ◽

Citizen Activism

This article analyzes how environmentalism reinscribed violent forms of state sovereignty in the disputed region of Kashmir in the aftermath of a decade-long uprising against Indian rule. After the return of an elected government, six years after its suspension in 1990, environmental restoration legitimized new forms of state and nature making in Kashmir. Nature rather than territory emerged as an arena of citizen activism, which further strengthened the state's ability to regulate the use and management of Kashmir's water resources. State and civic bodies deployed discourses of history and restoration to create new and imagined ecologies based on visions of nostalgia, commerce, and esthetics. By undermining place-based understandings of nature and ecology, discourses of environmental stewardship and conservation ended up fostering violent mechanisms of social and political control.

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