The preparation technique during synthesizing process and heat treatment plays an important role in the properties of the ceramic materials. In this paper, ceramic perovskite-type oxide based on Ba (Ce,Zr)O3 was prepared by sol-gel method and sintered via two-step sintering (TSS) technique. In the TSS, the sintered pellet was undergoing twice heat treatment. The first temperature profile was set at T1= 1400°C and the second temperature were varied at T2 = 1150°C, 1200°C, 1300°C and 1350°C, respectively. XRD results showed that all samples TSS1 to TSS5 exhibit single-phase of cerate-zirconate ceramics except for the pellet sintered at 1300°C (TSS4). The crystalline peaks for single-phase sintered pellets were matched to the standard compound Ba(Ce,Zr)O3 . On the other hand, the presence of secondary phases of CeO2 , Ba2ZrO4 and BaCO3 along with the main phase of Ba(Ce,Zr)O3 were detected in TSS4. SEM analysis revealed that the samples formed clear and compact grains with submicron sizes whereby the size of grain decreased from 336.4 to 192 nm as the second sintering temperature increased. This paper attempts to show that the implementation of different sintering profile in TSS method was found to give significant effect on the phase and morphology of solid solution of Ba(Ce,Zr)O3 .
Plutella xylostella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae), the major insect pest of cruciferous crops worldwide shows significant
resistance to almost all classes of insecticides. In order to effectively prevent and manage the insecticidal resistance,
it is crucial to understand the physiological adaptation of insects against insecticides. Identification of insect protein
that interacting with insecticides and characterization of their modification in resistant strains can be done by using
differential proteomics approach. This study focuses on optimizing a sensitive and rapid method for the extraction of
high quality protein of both larva and adult tissues of P. xylostella to be used in two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.
Five extraction methods were evaluated for protein concentration, yields and resolving patterns of one-dimensional
and two-dimensional electrophoresis. The results showed that trichloroacetic acid/acetone extraction methods with
two different concentrations of 2-mercaptoethanol produced the highest protein concentration and yield for both adult
and larva tissues, respectively. Meanwhile, trichloroacetic acid/acetone with dithiothreitol extraction method gave
better separation of spots and intensity for both larva and adult tissues compared to other methods tested. As such, we
concluded that trichloroacetic acid/acetone with dithiothreitol successfully yielded high total protein concentration and
good separation of two-dimensional electrophoresis gel spots in both adult and larva P. xylostella.