Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) researchers have developed an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Amphibi Gama V2. The fixed wing drone can take off and land on the water.

“This aircraft monitors and maps the conditions of active volcanoes in to support disaster response preparedness,” said team chairman, Dr. Tri Kuntoro Priyambodo, M.Sc., to journalists on Tuesday (16/7) during the UAV demo at Samas lagoon in Bantul.

Tri Kuntoro said the UAV Amphibi Gama V2 was the second generation following the UAV Gama UX 628. The idea came up when the team was taking aerial images to analyse flood potential and risk in Tanjung Selor, North Kalimantan. At that time the team found it difficult to find a long, flat enough area for take-off and landing.

“It was difficult to get a flat area for take-off and landing. The only possibility was to make use of standing water. From this we had an idea that the UAV ought to be able to take off and land on the water,” he said.

The UAV Amphibi then became a flexible tool to monitor various types of disasters, including floods, landslides, drought, fires, and storms.

The UAV can fly for 40 minutes to cover an area of 40 kilometer and a maximum altitude of 1,200 meter. It has a maximum speed of 25 meters per second, coverage speed of 13 meters per second and a minimum speed of 8 meters per second.

Amphibi Gama V2 has a length of 1,350 mm with a wing span of 2,000 mm. The body is made from composite material. The aircraft body is made using composite materials. The battery capacity is LiPo 11,000 mAh. The load capacity is 1.5 Kg and the maximum load for take-off is 6 Kg.

“The UAV is installed with sensors such as accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, air speed, and GPS navigation system,” he explained.

A brushless motor is used with servo motor controls. It is also equipped with microprocessor and manual control which is a 2.4 Mhz remote and 433 Mhz telemetry.

“Besides, we add an autopilot system to the machine so it can fly independently to monitor and map the environment around the volcano,” he said.

Amphibi Gama V2 has been developed by Tri Kuntoro and other researchers at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences UGM, Oktaf Agni Dhewa, S.Si., M.Cs., Nur Achmad Sulistyo Putro, S.Si., M.Cs., Ardi Puspa Kartika, S.Si., M.Cs., Faisal Fajri Rahani, S.Si., M.Cs., Prasetya Aditama, S.P., S.Si., and Faris Yusuf Baktiar, S.Si. 

Earlier UAV products are flying wing type: Gama Tipe UX 328, Gama Tipe UX 528, Gama Tipe UX 628 as well as fixed wing types: Amphibi Gama V1.

“To support various needs, missions, and circumstances, we continue to develop materials for making the aircraft body and wings,” he concluded.

Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/18102-ugm-kembangkan-drone-amphibi-untuk-monitoring-kondisi-gunung-api

For millions of Indonesians, jamu or herbal medicine is one of the drinks often consumed for medicinal purposes and health care. However, the development of herbal medicine at this time was hampered by various things, including widespread inaccurate information regarding the use of herbal medicines.

Five UGM students are trying to increase public literacy towards herbal and herbal plants to encourage the establishment of Kampung Pintar Wawasan Jamu (KAPIWAJA) in Ledok Tukangan Village, Danurejan, Yogyakarta City.

“If we look at various regions in Indonesia, there are many programs on the empowerment of herbal medicine. However, the obstacle that is often faced, especially in Ledok Tukangan Village, is the lack of public information about the identification of herbal plants and the scientific treatment of herbs as well as their benefits,” said Dendi Dwiki Cahyanto, a student of the UGM Faculty of Pharmacy.

Not only that, he said that the amount of wrong information or hoax news circulating about health can also be a serious obstacle that causes bias and results in errors in treatment.

“According to several pharmacists at RSUP Sardjito, every month some patients come because they get the wrong information about the processing and use of herbal and herbal medicines,” he said.

He worked on the program as part of the Student Creativity Program (PKM) with four other students who also came from the Faculty of Pharmacy, namely Pranadhia Mahirssa, Anisa Berliana Dian Aini, Husni Shofiana Ulfa, and Orin Dwipoyanti, under the guidance of Dr. Djoko Santosa, M. Si.

Intelligence discourse regarding correct information, he said, would be a strong solution when it could be integrated into the concept of a village that pioneered herbal culture tourism in the area of ​​Kampung Ledok Tukangan. The students strive for this by providing literacy training and providing information on health, herbal medicine, and certified herbal plants.

This series of programs includes the formation of family medicinal plant cadres and jamu makers, counseling on jamu and herbal plant literacy, training on jamu, and a herbal festival. Held from March to August, the program involves Ledok Tukangan community, especially the women’s gymnastics association in Ledok Tukangan Village.

Apart from counseling, the students also provided the participants with techniques for making traditional herbal medicine to treat various types of diseases. This knowledge, according to Dendi, can not only be used personally, but also equips them with skills for making various herbal products that have a sale value.

The jamu and herbal plant festival is planned to be held at the end of this program period to disseminate the understanding of herbs and herbal plants. In addition, this activity can also be an event to introduce Ledok Tukangan Village to the general public and support the development of the village into an integrated tourism village.

“With the KAPIWAJA program, the residents of Ledok Tukangan Village are expected to be able to use herbs and herbal plants around their environment with proper efficacy and safety, and make this program a forum to preserve the herbal culture,” he concluded.

Source: https://www.ugm.ac.id/id/berita/18114-lestarikan-budaya-jamu-di-era-milenial-mahasiswa-ugm-berikan-penyuluhan-pengolahan-jamu

Garlic is a natural ingredient often used as an alternative to high blood pressure or hypertension treatment. This plant contains more than 200 chemical components, one of which is allicin, which lowers blood pressure.

Even so, the use of garlic as an antihypertensive is not recommended for pregnant women. The reason is, the allicin compound has the same blood pressure-lowering mechanism as the ACE Inhibitor class of hypertension drugs.

“This ACE Inhibitor class drug is very dangerous if consumed by pregnant women because it has a teratogenic effect on the fetus. This has the potential to induce fetal growth failure, abnormalities, and abnormal development of cells during pregnancy which cause damage to the embryos,” said Natania Ayu Sandy, a student from the Faculty of Pharmacy on Wednesday (17/7) at UGM.

This fact was found from the results of research that she conducted together with Theresia Shinta W (Faculty of Pharmacy) and Dion Adiriesta Dewananda (Faculty of Veterinary Medicine). They conducted research on experimental animals, namely rats that were mated and given garlic extract for 14 days. The results showed changes that led to a teratogenic effect.

Natania explained that the results were obtained after macropathological observations, X-rays and scanning electron microscope were carried out to confirm the occurrence of teratogenic effects. “The result is known that the use of garlic extract as anti-hypertensive when consumed by pregnant women causes a risk to the fetus. However, in the future, further research is still needed to support this research,” she said.

This research was carried out as part of the 2019 UGM Student Creativity Program in Exact Science Research (PKM-PE) funded by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education.

Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/18106-konsumsi-bawang-putih-sebagai-obat-hipertensi-selama-kehamilan-bisa-bahayakan-janin