Dynamics of the Agricultural Sector and Food Security in the Border Areas East Nusa Tenggara Province – Timor Leste

East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province is a strategic area bordering Timor-Leste, with significant potential in agriculture and trade. However, NTT faces food insecurity issues, reflected in high poverty rates and malnutrition prevalence, making it the province with the highest malnutrition rate in Indonesia. This study uses Multiple Linear Regression Method to analyze the impact of climate change, accessibility, education, agricultural diversification programs, and community participation on food security. A sample of 150 farmers from Kupang, South Central Timor, North Central Timor, Belu, and Malaka districts was randomly selected. The results show that these five variables significantly affect food security in NTT, both partially and simultaneously. Strategic recommendations include adopting climate change adaptation programs, improving accessibility, education, agricultural diversification, and strengthening community participation in decision-making processes

Cryptosporidium Priming Is More Effective than Vaccine for Protection against Cryptosporidiosis in a Murine Protein Malnutrition Model

Cryptosporidium is a major cause of severe diarrhea, especially in malnourished children. Using a murine model of C. parvum oocyst challenge that recapitulates clinical features of severe cryptosporidiosis during malnutrition, we interrogated the effect of protein malnutrition (PM) on primary and secondary responses to C. parvum challenge, and tested the differential ability of mucosal priming strategies to overcome the PM-induced susceptibility. We determined that while PM fundamentally alters systemic and mucosal primary immune responses to Cryptosporidium, priming with C. parvum (106 oocysts) provides robust protective immunity against re-challenge despite ongoing PM. C. parvum priming restores mucosal Th1-type effectors (CD3+CD8+CD103+ T-cells) and cytokines (IFNγ, and IL12p40) that otherwise decrease with ongoing PM. Vaccination strategies with Cryptosporidium antigens expressed in the S. Typhi vector 908htr, however, do not enhance Th1-type responses to C. parvum challenge during PM, even though vaccination strongly boosts immunity in challenged fully nourished hosts. Remote non-specific exposures to the attenuated S. Typhi vector alone or the TLR9 agonist CpG ODN-1668 can partially attenuate C. parvum severity during PM, but neither as effectively as viable C. parvum priming. We conclude that although PM interferes with basal and vaccine-boosted immune responses to C. parvum, sustained reductions in disease severity are possible through mucosal activators of host defenses, and specifically C. parvum priming can elicit impressively robust Th1-type protective immunity despite ongoing protein malnutrition. These findings add insight into potential correlates of Cryptosporidium immunity and future vaccine strategies in malnourished children

Ecosystem Services in Conservation Planning: Targeted Benefits vs. Co-Benefits or Costs?

There is growing support for characterizing ecosystem services in order to link conservation and human well-being. However, few studies have explicitly included ecosystem services within systematic conservation planning, and those that have follow two fundamentally different approaches: ecosystem services as intrinsically-important targeted benefits vs. substitutable co-benefits. We present a first comparison of these two approaches in a case study in the Central Interior of British Columbia. We calculated and mapped economic values for carbon storage, timber production, and recreational angling using a geographical information system (GIS). These ‘marginal’ values represent the difference in service-provision between conservation and managed forestry as land uses. We compared two approaches to including ecosystem services in the site-selection software Marxan: as Targeted Benefits, and as Co-Benefits/Costs (in Marxan's cost function); we also compared these approaches with a Hybrid approach (carbon and angling as targeted benefits, timber as an opportunity cost). For this analysis, the Co-Benefit/Cost approach yielded a less costly reserve network than the Hybrid approach (1.6% cheaper). Including timber harvest as an opportunity cost in the cost function resulted in a reserve network that achieved targets equivalently, but at 15% lower total cost. We found counter-intuitive results for conservation: conservation-compatible services (carbon, angling) were positively correlated with each other and biodiversity, whereas the conservation-incompatible service (timber) was negatively correlated with all other networks. Our findings suggest that including ecosystem services within a conservation plan may be most cost-effective when they are represented as substitutable co-benefits/costs, rather than as targeted benefits. By explicitly valuing the costs and benefits associated with services, we may be able to achieve meaningful biodiversity conservation at lower cost and with greater co-benefits

BUDIDAYA IKAN LELE DAN IKAN NILA OLEH KELOMPOK TANI TUNFEU DESA PONAIN KECAMATAN AMARASI KABUPATEN KUPANG DI MASA COVID19

Kelompok Tani Tunfeu ini bergerak dalam bidang pertanian, peternakan dan perikanan dengan tujuan utama untuk membantu pemenuhan kebutuhan ekonomi keluarga. Desa Ponain diketahui telah ditetapkan sebagai desa siaga oleh pemerintah kabupaten Kupang dengan tujuan agar penduduknya memiliki kemampuan untuk mencegah dan mengatasi masalah-masalah kesehatan, bencana dan keadaan gawat darurat dalam bidang kesehatan secara mandiri dalam rangka mewujudkan desa sehat. Dengan pengetahuan yang terbatas Kelompok Tani Tunfeu ini sudah berhasil mengembangkan usaha tanaman pangan dan hortikultura serta peternakan. Kelompok tani ini memiliki keinginan yang sangat kuat untuk meningkatkan kualitas pelayanan mereka bagi masyarakat di desa Ponain dan juga berkeinginan untuk memberikan contoh bagi kelompok atau bahkan desa tetangga yang lain untuk bergerak dalam memenuhi kebutuhan gizi pangan mereka melalui kegiatan produksi perikanan khususnya perikanan budidaya ikan air tawar. Dengan adanya diversifikasi produk perikanan budidaya berupa ikan air tawar,penghasilan kelompok diharapkan meningkat. Tujuan kegiatan pengabdian untuk membantu meningkatkan pemahaman dan pengetahuan masyarakat tentang teknik pembesaran ikan; pemberian pakan, pencegahan penyakit dan kontrol kualitas air. Konstruksi wadah pemeliharaan ikan; pemilihan model yang tepat dan dan cara setting up wadah pemeliharaan. Metode pelaksanaan kegiatan meliputi survey, penyuluhan (penyampain materi, demplot) dan monitoring/pendampingan.  Hasil yang diperoleh bahwa semua anggota kelompok sangat antusias mengikuti kegiatan mulai dari penyuluhan hingga demonstrasi dengan menerapkan protocol Covid19.  Kegiatan PKM dapat berjalan dengan baik dengan hasil yang sangat memuaskan hal ini mendapat apresiasi dari mitra bahkan masyarakat sekitar walaupun dalam suasana pandemic Covid19. Mitra telah memperoleh pengetahuan tentang bagaimana teknik budidaya ikan khususnya budidaya ikan lele dan ikan nila dengan menggunakan kolam terpal serta bagaimana memasarkan hasil usahanya</jats:p

Domestic Resources Cost Analysis of Small-Scale Beef Cattle Farming at Upstream Area of Benain-Noelmina Watershed, West Timor, East Nusa Tenggara

The study aims to evaluate the Domestic Resources Cost (DRC) of beef cattle raised either on grazing, or a tethering system of small-scale beef cattle farming. The study was done using a survey method. A total of 120 respondents were selected purposively to consist of 60 farmers applying the grazing system and another 60 farmers applying the tethering system. The parameters measured were socio-economic characteristic, Domestic Resources Cost Ratio (DRCR) and Private Cost Ratio (PCR). Data were analyzed by applying a method of Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM). The result of the study indicated that 87% of those farmers involved in the grazing system and 85% of those involved in tethered beef cattle production, were within the productive age range. In the grazing system, the cattle farmers upstream of Benain-Noelmina watershed area gain the private and social profit levels which is IDR 406,284,-/AU/year and IDR 688,388,-/AU/year, respectively. Further, in the tethering system, the average of private and social profit gain is IDR 855,222,-/AU/year and IDR 1,385,712,-/AU/year, respectively. The small-scale beef cattle farming upstream of Benain-Noelmina watershed has competitive and comparative advantages, indicated by the value of PCR and DRCR which are less than 1. The PCR value was 0.41 in the grazing system and 0.71 on the tethering system; hence, the DRCR of the grazing system was 0.29 and 0.60 of the tethering system

Effect of drug Piper nigrum on physicochemical properties of zinc chloride at varying concentration and temperature investigated through ultrasonic tool

In the present study, the molecular interaction between ethanolic extract of drug Piper nigrum with (metal ions) ZnCl2 have been investigated by ultrasonic method. The ultrasonic velocity (U), density (ρ), and viscosity (η) of an ethanolic extract of drug with metal ions of different concentration (number of moles of drug = 1.4018, 2.1027, 2.8036, and 3.5045) and different temperature (T = 308.15, 313.15, 318.15, 323.15, and 333.15) K at 2 MHz have been measured through ultrasonic interferometer. From experimental parameters (ultrasonic velocity (U), density (ρ) and viscosity (η)), various thermoacoustical parameters such as adiabatic compressibility (β), intermolecular free length (Lf), specific acoustic impedance (Z) has been calculated. The change in concentration of drug P. nigrum and varying temperature affects compressibility of solution, which gives idea about molecular interactions in liquid mixtures. Obtained experimental and thermoacoustical parameters are used to investigate the solute–solvent interactions between P. nigrum and ZnCl2 ions which is useful to understand the mechanism of their metabolism in living systems. The conclusion drawn from the ultrasonic investigation is the mixture act as structure breaker and there is a complex formation between ZnCl2 and P. nigrum for the system as a function of concentration and temperature. The results obtained from these studies are helpful for pharmacological applications of drugs, transport of drugs across biological membranes