Metisa plana Walker and Pteroma pendula Joannis are important pests of the oil palm, Elaeis guineensis Jacquin, which is the primary agricultural crop in Malaysia. Although there is a history of integrated management of the bagworms, information gaps exist with regard to their incidence, biology, dispersion and population dynamics. Such new information is needed to improve the current integrated management of these pests. Analysis of historical records of bagworm infestations over 63 955 ha of oil palm in 69 estates in Peninsular Malaysia showed M. plana and P. pendula to be the primary pests. Infestations were of single or mixed species, and ranged from nil to 7811 ha yr-1. Cumulative infestations were 18 297 ha, 4904 ha and 14 607 ha for single species of P. pendula and M. plana, and for mixed species of P. pendula and M. plana, respectively. This shows P. pendula to be the predominant species, and is attributed to its ability to survive very wet weather (>200 mm rain per month) and .....

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The reproductive performance and demographic parameters of Sycanus dichotomus Stal. fed on mealworm Tenebrio molitor L. were studied in the laboratory under the ambient environment of 28 ± 2°C, 70%-90% RH and 12 hr photoperiod. Eggs that were laid in tight clusters of 15-130 eggs per cluster hatched within a mean of 19 days with 6.27% hatchability. The majority of the eggs that were in small clusters were infertile, while larger uniform clusters contained a higher percentage of fertile eggs. There were five nymphal instars. All nymphal stages were reddish in colour. The mean longevity was two to three weeks each for the first to third instars, while at least one week each was needed for the fourth and fifth instars. The total developmental time from egg to adult took 87 days with the females reaching adulthood three days sooner than the male. Adult females survived for an average of 197 days with a median natural mortality (NM50) value of 150 days, while the males endured for an addi.....

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An attempt was made to determine optimum sampling unit of between-palm and within-palm distribution of bagworms and their interspecific association distribution in oil palm using aggregation indices or distribution models. The within-frond distribution of bagworms varied significantly within the oil palm crown. Peak bagworm density was recorded between frond numbers 9 and 19. Through polynomial regression, standardised residual and relative net precision analyses, frond number 17 was established as the representative sampling unit for experimental work, and frond numbers 10-19 should be used when a greater precision is required as in life-table construction. A lack of interspecific association suggested these sampling units to be applicable for single and mixed infestations. Evaluation of between-palm dispersion revealed that Taylor’s Power Law gave a more appropriate fit with highly significant r2 values for all categories of assessment. The bagworms were regularly dispersed in oil .....

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The effects of sublethal exposure to imidacloprid (Kendor® 18.3SL) on the biological performance of the ladybird beetle, Menochilus sexmaculatus F., the most common coccinellid beetle found feeding on aphids, were studied under ambient laboratory conditions of 27-32˚C and 50-75% RH. The corn leaf aphid, Rhopalosiphum maidis, was offered as prey. The LC50 obtained from the contact bioassay at 24 h post-treatment for the regression slope, b=1.08, indicated that imidacloprid was likely to be selective. Sublethal exposure to imidacloprid caused reduction in survival with the females reaching 50% mortality by the 24th day, while that of the control was the 36th day. Meanwhile, demographic parameters including the net reproductive rate (Ro), generation time (T), innate capacity of increase (rm) and the finite rate of increase (λ) of the treated females were markedly inferior as compared to the untreated females. The Ro value indicated that the control female was capable of producing 17.59.....

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The lethal and sublethal effects of imidacloprid were determined against the red pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora foveicollis (Lucas) (Coleopterea: Chrysomelidae). In a bioassay experiment, six varying concentrations of imidacloprid and a control were applied to the adults. The median lethal concentration (LC50) was determined to be 0.005 mg a.i. L-1. Assuming at this level of concentration to be sublethal, i.e. LC50 value, imidacloprid was found to significantly exert harmful sublethal effects on the beetle’s survival and fecundity. Compared to the control, imidacloprid reduced the longevity of the treated beetle by 29 days and the fecundity to zero. This study showed that imidacloprid was ovicidal against A. foveicollis and might not induce physiological resurgence or resistance in the red pumpkin beetle...

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This research was conducted to test the effectiveness of visual-spatial intelligence teaching courseware to teach “equivalent fraction” topic for Form 1 underachieving students. This courseware uses visual-spatial intelligence which is one of the eight multiple intelligences in multiple intelligence theory by Howard Gardner. The design of this research was pretested and posttested on nonequivalent groups design. The sample involved 57 students that comprised 29 for the treatment group and 28 for the control group. This research also tested whether the use of the courseware could increase visual-spatial intelligence in the Multiple Intelligence (MI) test. Students’ perspective towards the courseware in terms of courseware objectives, courseware content, interface design, motivation, and assistance in learning the topic was acquired using questionnaire. ANCOVA test showed that there was a significant effect of the visual-spatial teaching courseware on learning performance compared .....

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A great deal of information have been generated on the efficacy of bacterial entomopathogens against insect pests. However, relatively little information is available for the cocoa pod borer (CPB), Conopomorpha cramerella (Snellen). The pathogenicity of seven isolates as entomopathogen was evaluated against the CPB adult and their effects as oviposition deterrent in an ambient laboratory environment of 28±2ºC and 60-90% RH. A Sigma® hand atomizer was used to deliver an even volume median diameter (VMD) droplet spray of 75 μm of 1 x 106 c.f.u. mL-1. The cells of all bacterial isolates tested could cause infection and inflicted mortality on the CPB adults. The isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens significantly killed 93.33% of the CPB adults at the fourth day of exposure. The supernatant of S. marcescens also demonstrated significant kill of 86.66% of the CPB adults. The isolates P. aeruginosa and S. marcescens also significantly deterred the CPB moths from ovip.....

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Kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan membandingkan dua algoritma utama yang digunakan dalam proses pembentukan pengelasan geodemografi iaitu algoritma k-means dan algoritma Self-Organizing Map (SOM). Salah satu daripada algoritma yang dipilih akan digunakan dalam proses pembentukan profil penduduk. Sebanyak 1184 zon banci dan 203 pembolehubah daripada data banci penduduk dan perumahan telah digunakan. Analisis algoritma k-means melibatkan beberapa proses iaitu proses pengurangan pembolehubah, penentuan bilangan kluster optimum, pengubahan dan penyeragaman data. Manakala bagi algoritma SOM sebanyak 2,000 unit jaringan telah dibentuk dan topologi heksagon telah dipilih berserta dengan fungsi kejiranan gaussian. Berdasarkan kepada kedua-dua algoritma, k-means telah menghasilkan lima kluster manakala algoritma SOM telah menghasilkan lapan kluster. Hasil bagi keduadua algoritma ini dibandingkan dengan menggunakan pengukuran pekali kekuatan. Nilai ralat struktur dan ralat kuadratik bagi algoritma.....

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The population survivorship and demographic parameters of the predatory asopin bug, Cantheconidea furcellata (Wolff.) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), was determined using larvae of selected species, individually or in combinations, as prey under laboratory conditions of 28 _ 2_C, 60-80% RH and a photoperiod of 12L:12D. Initial mortality of the nonfeeding first instar nymph occurred between 3rd and 4th day after emergence. The female bugs when fed on mealworms, Tenebrio molitor (L) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) alone, showed the longest lifespan (40 days). However, the lifespan shortened to 35-36 days when the bugs were fed rice moth larvae, Corcyra cephalonica Stainton (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) or supplemented with banana leaf rollers, Erionata thrax (L.) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Fecundity of the female bugs was influenced by the food preyed upon. Total number of eggs laid was the highest (1013 eggs) when the bugs fed on the mealworms, whereas 349 and 901 eggs were produced on rice moth lar.....

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DPMP ditubuhkan pada 17 Mei 1957 di Sekolah Laki-laki Temerloh. Kira-kira seratus orang penulis, peminat, guru-guru, ustaz merupakan tenaga awal penubuhannya dan mereka inilah yang hadir pada hari yang bersejarah itu. Antara objektif penubuhannya ialah menyatukan penulis-penulis, peminat sastera dan penggiat budaya ke dalam suatu organisasi yang berperlembagaan. Sebelum itu Pahang telah mempunyai penulis yang menulis bersendirian seperti Dato' Shihabudin Zainal Abidin (ulama) yang banyak menghasilkan karya agama dalam genre syair. Dalam kurun kelima belas hingga ketujuh belas tradisi menulis terus menerus disambung pula oleh Cikgu Ahmad Kotot, Hikayat Percintaan Kasih Kemudaan diterbitkan tahun 1928. Cikgu Ahmad adalah bekas penuntut Maktab Perguruan Melaka sebelum berpindah ke Tanjung Malim. Selepas itu timbul pula penulis IBHY iaitu Ibrahim Haji Yaacob yang banyak menulis rencana-rencana tentang nasib dan perjuangan orang-orang Melayu. Beliau merupakan pelajar Sultan Idris Training C.....

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