No abstract

Pesticides released chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) that can harm to the environment and human health. Therefore, it is a need for development of an alternative methods in pest management due to negative effects of pesticides for human health and the environment. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Annona Squamosa and Annona Muricata seed extracts as ingredients in bio-pesticides spray on killing crickets (Gryllidae) and mealworm (Tenebriomolitor). The seeds of Annona Squamosa and Annona Muricata were dried, powdered and extracted in soxhlet’s apparatus using n-hexane as a solvent at 60°C. The extracted oil was placed in the rotary evaporator for purification process. As a result, mixture of extracts of Annona muricata and Annona squamosa induced high mortality rate to mealworm and cricket compared to extracts of Annona squamosa and extract of Annona muricata at all concentrations tested. Therefore, the extracts of these Annona muricata and Annona squamosa may be used as one of the alternatives as bio-pesticides that offer cheaper and environmentally friendly method.

In recent years, Malaysia has been experienced with the weather changes especially in increasing of the temperature. The highest temperature usually occurs during equinox. Equinox is the phenomenon when the sun is directly above the Earth's equator and this happens twice a year. Therefore, this study is carried out to determine the effects of equinox on climate change for five consecutive years. The information of this study was obtained from Malaysian Meteorological Department. The study involved three states and one federal territory in Peninsular Malaysia, namely Alor Setar (Kedah), Kota Bharu (Kelantan), Johor Bahru (Johor) and Kuala Lumpur. These states were chosen based on their location in North, East, South and West of Peninsular Malaysia. As a result, the overall mean temperature at all stations is in the range of 27°C to 30°C. The analysis revealed that the mean temperature in March showed significant increase from year 2011 to 2015 in all stations and Alor Setar recorded the highest mean temperature. However, other factors are also needed to be considered to the rising of the temperature such as El Nino phenomenon, amount of rainfall, number of rain days, Southwest and Northeast Monsoon seasons and others. Keywords: Equinox, climate, peninsular Malaysia, temperature, pollution

An increase in Indonesian forest fires has infuriated Malaysia and Indonesia, where residents are inhaling smoke from peat and trees burned hundreds of miles away. The global COVID-19 lockdowns caused CO emissions decreased seen over Malaysia and Indonesia region. The main objective of this study is to investigate the carbon monoxide (CO) distribution over Malaysia and Indonesia, within the period of January 2011 to December 2020. The impact of lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to CO emission over Malaysia and Indonesia also was reviewed. This study utilizes MERRA-2 dataset provided by GIOVANNI interface. Five area were found to have affected the most during the study period which is Kuala Lumpur, Jambi, Riau, Palembang, and Jakarta. CO concentration over the studied region exhibits a strong seasonality showing maximum value in dry season (July to October). September 2019 is found to have the highest trend of CO concentration affected Jambi region. As COVID 19 pandemic hit the whole world end of year 2019, all the studied regions shown the decreasing trend after September 2019 and no high peak was observed during dry season (July to October) in 2020. This is the combined effect of wetter dry season and impact of lockdown implemented by government of Malaysia and Indonesia.