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Tag: Universitas Sumatera Utara

Living in Harmony with Disaster: Oral Tradition as Psychological Well-Being Media for Volcanic Eruption Survivors

Posted on by Editorial Team

Mount Sinabung in the Karo Regency, North Sumatra Province, is one of Indonesia’s more active volcanoes, with numerous eruptions recorded since 2010. An eruption in 2013 was recorded as one of the most intense, displacing thousands of people in the mountain’s vicinity. In 2023, MAGMA (Multiplatform Application for Geohazard Mitigation and Assessment) Indonesia issued a level II alert warning for Mount Sinabung since the month of May, prompting the Indonesian government to evacuate villagers around Sinabung for safety, among them being villagers from Gurukinayan Village.

Suri Mutia Siregar, M.Psi., a lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), Medan, Indonesia, supervised a team consisting of students from the Faculty of Psychology and the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, to research the psychological well-being of the survivors and refugees from Gurukinayan Village. The team found that, despite the tragic loss of their family members or relatives and the significant damage to property and livelihood, the villagers live in relative harmony while in close vicinity of the volcano. They have an excellent awareness of natural disasters and are vigilant to sudden activities and eruptions from Sinabung.

Nini Galoh Oral Tradition Ritual

The research team conducted qualitative research using 12 ethnographic steps: 1) identify informants, 2) informants interview, 3) ethnographic recording, 4) descriptive questions interview, 5) interview analysis, 6) domain analysis, 7) structured interview, 8) taxonomy analysis, 9) contrasting questions interview, 10) formulation of components of analysis, 11) identify cultural themes, and 12) ethnographical write-up. Through the procedure, the team found that the villagers’ resilience and harmonious coexistence towards disasters are founded on heritage wisdom called the Nini Galoh oral tradition.

The Nini Galoh tradition involves a ceremonial ritual to revere the ancestors of Gurukinayan Village. The villagers, alongside the village elders, conduct a series of communal rites that they believe maintain their connection to their ancestors. The ceremony becomes a means through which all generations are reminded of the messages of wisdom they inherited, such as: 1) the Gurukinayan Village lies on blessed land, safe from the ravages of volcanic materials such as lava; 2) the villagers trust each other on their bond of kinship, everyone helps each other in need readily during trying times; 3) the villagers are intimate with the layout of their land, allowing quick response and navigation during disaster evacuations, and; 4) the villagers are highly adaptable to change in livelihood as situation calls.

Focus Group Discussion on the Influence of Nini Galoh Oral Tradition to Mt. Sinabung Eruption Survivors

With funding from the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs from the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture, the USU team believes that the core philosophy and positive messaging of the Nini Galoh oral tradition contribute significantly to the development of psychological well-being of Mount Sinabung survivors, namely in aspects of self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, and personal growth. The team recommends that the local and central government and responsible bodies allow volcanic eruption survivors and refugees in Indonesia to embrace their local wisdom, potentially reducing psychological burdens and encouraging acceptance and harmonious living with natural disasters. Considering that Indonesia lies on the Ring of Fire volcanic belt, and there are vulnerable communities and settlements living close to each of the hundreds of active volcanoes across the archipelago, this recommendation might contribute to the literature on psychological well-being for better disaster response nationwide.

Universitas Sumatera Utara researchers study key indicators for mangrove restoration success

Posted on by Editorial Team

Rapid mangrove loss rates have prompted the urgent implementation of conservation and restoration programs. Currently, restoration efforts have high failure rates (mainly because they only consider intensive planting of mangrove seedlings, often in monocultures and low-lying tidal flats. In many cases, this approach must pay more attention to measuring ecosystem habitat functionality and adaptive management.

A study from the Center of Excellence for Mangrove Universitas Sumatera Utara (CoE for Mangrove USU) recently reported that macrozoobenthic community assemblage is a key indicator for mangrove restoration success. The idea behind this new study, led by Prof. Mohammad Basyuni of Universitas Sumatera Utara and Dr. Alejandra G. Vovides of the University of Glasgow and published in the journal Restoration Ecology (https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13614), was simple. The recognition of the high value of mangrove forests and the wide array of ecosystem services they provide has motivated investment in worldwide restoration efforts. However, current metrics of functional restoration (other than seedling survival rates and plant community composition) are often not readily available for local community managers, highlighting an urgency to identify easy-to-measure indicators to assess the functionality of restored mangroves.

The macrozoobenthic community could be such a practical indicator, as macrozoobenthic communities are sensitive to changes in their environment and can be surveyed easily within local managing programs.

Macrozoobenthos on the roots of mangrove.

The study focusing on three main mangrove management conditions (natural, planted, and naturally regenerated) in North Sumatra and the province of Aceh, Indonesia, compared vegetation and macrozoobenthic community diversity indices and identified environmental variables that best describe the forest management conditions and their associated macrozoobenthic community assemblage. These land uses have further undergone mangrove vegetation recovery either due to abandonment followed by natural regeneration of mangroves or due to mangrove planting efforts. This provided the possibility to compare two management conditions (i.e., planted and naturally regenerated) with mature natural mangroves used as reference. The study found that the macrozoobenthic community can be used as a restoration indicator and could serve as a baseline to empower monitoring activities and community-based adaptive management practices to improve the outcomes of restoration efforts. Coastal communities that utilize the mangrove forest are familiar with the macrozoobenthos species. This familiarity will help in designing community-based monitoring programs to evaluate mangrove restoration success.

Macrozoobenthos.

Environmental conditions at mangrove restoration sites can rapidly change, as evidenced by Pulau Sembilan in Malaysia, which was first managed through planting between 2008 and 2012, but then additionally underwent hydrological connectivity restoration. Despite the limitations of this study, low pH and DO at Percut Sei Tuan are probable evidence of hydrologically impaired conditions. These environmental attributes, alongside the early pioneer vegetation recorded at Percut Sei Tuan, indicate low restoration success due to a continued hydrological impairment. However, allowing natural regeneration to occur without any intervention could result in functional recovery times becoming prolonged or even not occurring at all, depending on the nature, intensity, and duration of the disturbance (Ellison et al., 2020). Here, both vegetation and macrozoobenthos community assemblages formed three distinct groups associated with management. The vegetation NMDS showed high dissimilarities between natural and planted mangroves, where the differences in vegetation and environmental attributes might, in turn, influence the macrozoobenthic community assemblage, as was found to occur in riparian streams.

CoE for Mangrove USU is collaborating with the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom, and the Department of Environment, Thuyloi University, Vietnam. The project suggested that identifying indicator species to support rapid bio-assessments can aid conservation diagnostics and management program design. Overall, the study showed that the community assemblage has the potential to be an indicator of mangrove functional restoration success. It showed that natural mangrove regeneration favors the recovery of macrozoobenthic functional groups over plantations. Facilitating natural mangrove regeneration through ecological and hydrological restoration may take longer than direct planting. Still, it will create the suitable flooding regimes and “natural” species assemblages needed to facilitate the functional recovery of the macrozoobenthic communities. Documenting the macrozoobenthic community under different mangrove conditions (including bare mudflats) and throughout the restoration programs can help understand the functional restoration trajectories. Further, combining nature-based solutions such as elevation or hydrological restoration with planting or dispersal of local pioneer species could accelerate the natural functional recovery of ecosystems.

Literaku: an Indonesian-language literacy application that opens a door to quality education for blind people 

Posted on by Editorial Team

The fourth point of the United Nations SDG ensures that everyone has access to and receives a quality education inclusively and equitably, covering all races and groups, including blind people with limitations in getting an equal quality of education. According to The Lancet Global Health Commission, in 2020, of the 596 million people with vision impairment worldwide, 43.4 million of them suffered complete blindness.

Hoping to aid those with vision impairment to gain quality education, a few students from the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology Universitas Sumatera Utara created a learning application for modern mobile devices. The team, chaired by Khairul Imam along with Fitri Aulia Fadillah Nasution, Eric Martin, Muhammad Ghozali, and Farhan Doli Fadhiil Siagian, and supervised by Dr. Amalia, ST., MT., concluded that one of the major problems faced by visually-impaired people is the limited and expensive resources available to them, such as braille books while themselves having the low ability to read braille. They also need access to alternative sources, such as audiobooks in the Indonesian language. The team’s answer to these problems is Literaku, a mobile learning application for vision-impairment sufferers.

The team initiated the Literaku application as an innovative, solution-based application based on Google Cloud APIs technology to improve literacy for blind people. The application contributes to maximizing the use of Indonesian voice commands by understanding the meaning of the closest word through Natural Language Processing support to assist the user in finding materials and carrying out all activities in the application. Literaku application can be used to complement and even substitute braille-format books.

Literaku works by converting various visual forms into vocals. A wide range of materials, such as Portable Document Format (PDF) textbooks, scientific articles, modules, novels, and comics, can be converted using the Screen Reader feature. The app is designed with user-friendliness in mind; thanks to integrated Google Cloud APIs and a speech interface, this allows blind users to start, browse, and operate the application by themselves.

The application has undergone several tests to obtain accurate user experience feedback and ensure efficiency. The team has gained highly pleasing results from users, who rated the application’s usability testing level at 100% and satisfaction level at 89.60%.

Literaku gained national recognition and success in 2022 when the team made it into the National Student Scientific Week (PIMNAS) finals after receiving funding from the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. The team has successfully obtained copyrights for Literaku, published it at an international conference, and made it available on the Play Store for free. The team continues to develop and optimize the application to expand its impact by implementing it for visually-impaired students at a special-needs school SLBA YAPENTRA in Tanjung Morawa, Medan, North Sumatra, through a Community Service program. The team hopes that Literaku will excite the visually impaired in Indonesia, especially students, to explore their potential and open a new page in their life by giving access to a literacy application packed with educational and entertaining resources that are free and fun to use.

USU’s Faculty of Engineering processes palm oil mill waste through pyrolysis technology

Posted on by Editorial Team

Indonesia holds one of the largest palm oil commodities in the world, occupying 12.76 million hectares with a sizable area of oil palm estate in the North Sumatra Province and producing 36.59 million tonnes of Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) in 2018. Effective waste management is crucial for the life cycle of the industry in addition to its environment. Processing 100 tonnes of FFB produces waste in the form of 5 tonnes of Oil Palm Shell (OPS), 22 tonnes of Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB), 14 tonnes of Oil Palm Fiber (OPF), and Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME). POME is a highly pollutive liquid waste and accounts for an estimated 60% of the processed FFB produced substantially nationally. The combined amount of pollutants calls for better waste management that can contribute to a circular economy, especially in oil palm estates.

A team of researchers at the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sumatera Utara, led by Dr. Eng Taufiq Bin Nur, S.T., M.Eng.Sc., have come up with an optimal waste processing technology by using pyrolysis, which can also increase the commercial value of the waste by utilizing its EFB and sludge. Applying this technology supports the realization of food security by producing organic fertilizers and, therefore, new renewable energy derived from biomass.

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition of biomass into a range of valuable products either in the total absence of oxygen or with limited oxygen. The heat needed by the process is obtained through burning biomass in the form of unused wood and EFB. The process can produce biochar, liquid smoke (bio-oil), and syngas from biomass raw materials in one production by maintaining the working temperature of the reactor constant as needed up to 550°C. The pyrolysis process increases the calorific value of the waste compared to its raw state, rising to 36.5% in the case of EFB and coffee dregs or 65% in coconut shells. When applied to EFB raw materials, at the moment, the test results at the Indonesian Oil Palm Research Institute in Medan show that the biochar also had the following composition: Nitrogen (0.82%), P2O5 (0.83%, total), K2O (11.57%), Organic C (35.24%), and 0.80% Organic N.

The research team sees multiple advantages in implementing this innovative smokeless pyrolysis system in oil palm estates. Firstly, it helps minimize the environmental impact of the waste because it is smokeless, and up to 250 kg of EFB can be processed further per 5 hours, producing biochar, bio-oil, and syngas, as shown in Figures 1 – 2. Biochar and bio-oil could be an alternative to organic fertilizer. Furthermore, flue gas from the combustion can be treated further to minimize CO2 emissions in the plantation area. The heat from the system can also dry the POME sludge, allowing easier processing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1. Biomass Pyrolysis System.

 

This pyrolysis technology innovation from USU Faculty of Engineering researchers can help overcome the Palm Oil Mill (POM) waste problem while increasing the sale value. Their goal is to operate a start-up industry producing organic fertilizer while dealing with POM waste in North Sumatra, building a sustainable industry enriched with better waste management and promoting a circular economy by cooperating with the rural enterprise.

USU as the initiator of the first ocular prosthesis consultation and service center

Posted on by Editorial Team

In accordance with its vision and mission, the Specialist Program in Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, one of the study programs at Universitas Sumatera Utara, participates in developing a knowledge-based economic culture to foster new entrepreneurs by organizing “Program Pengembangan Usaha Produk Intelektual Kampus” (PPUPIK), which is a recent innovation with substantial economic values. The Prosthodontic Specialist Program has developed the Ocular Prosthesis Consultation and Service Center. Producing ocular prosthesis is one of the competencies of a dentist specializing in prosthodontics because a prosthodontist deals not only with dental problems but also with maxillofacial rehabilitation, including the manufacture of ocular prosthesis, ear prosthesis, nose prosthesis, feeding plates, and obturators. The process of creating an ocular prosthesis is conceptually similar to that of making dentures.

Evisceration and enucleation are two possible eye surgery treatments. The surgical procedure, known as evisceration, removes the eyeball but leaves the sclera and connective tissue within the orbital cavity. Installing a stock ocular prosthesis is a recommended course of treatment for evisceration, while there are some circumstances where a custom ocular prosthesis can be fitted. A surgical operation, known as enucleation, removes the entire eyeball by removing and severing the tissue that holds it in the orbital cavity. In 2019, this program conducted a community service project for ocular prosthetic treatments in association with the Sumatra Eye Center. The project has served 78 patients (2017-2019) for surgery but has not got their prosthetic eyes fitted.

Figure 1. Before and after the insertion of the ocular prosthesis at The Ocular Prosthesis Consultation and Service Center

Sometimes, an ophthalmologist at an eye hospital or eye clinic suggests that the patients should find a dentist specializing in prosthodontics regarding their postoperative care with the creation of artificial eyes. This is not efficient in terms of time and money. The problem may arise if the eye surgery patients cannot find a service center facilitating synergy between ophthalmologists and prosthodontic specialists. It will undoubtedly be more straightforward for patients if they can find a place offering services ranging from consultation to producing artificial eyes. The Specialist Program in Prosthodontics considered “Program Pengembangan Usaha Produk Intelektual Kampus” (PPUPIK) as a medium to establish an ocular prosthesis consultation and service center, which has not been found in Indonesia. This consultation and service center was established in response to some of the abovementioned issues.

There are three product specifications available at the Ocular Prosthesis Consultation and Service Center, namely:

  1. The Ocular Prosthesis Consultation Center – Consultation Center – On their first appointment, patients who come to the artificial eye consultation and service facility will meet an ophthalmologist. The condition of the patient’s eye socket will determine whether they require different therapy before the artificial eye is manufactured, whether they can only receive a factory artificial eye, or whether they are prepared to move forward with the artificial eye service method.
  2. The Ocular Prosthesis Consultation Services – Production Center – Patients who have gone through the ophthalmologist’s screening process and have been given the all-clear to proceed with the ocular prosthesis service procedure will be transferred to a team of prosthodontists, who will then perform the ocular services. Anatomical impression, wax try-in, individual impression, scleral wax try-in, produced sclera, produced iris button, layered sclera acrylic with clear scleral, insertion of ocular prosthesis, and periodic control are the first steps in the imitation process.

Figure 2. Ocular Prosthesis Services and Production Room

3. Ocular Prosthesis Training Center – Training Center – A team from the Specialist Program in Prosthodontics or a unit from another university that has worked with the Faculty of Dentistry of USU gives ocular prosthesis training. Hands-on instruction in the “Simple Laboratory Procedure in Fabricating Esthetic Ocular Prosthesis” has been provided by Rosli bin Bidin from the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Malaya.

Program Pengembangan Usaha Produk lntelektual Kampus. The Ocular Prosthesis Consultation and Service Center aims to apply and commercialize ocular prosthesis services that have been carried out so far. In 2019, the Specialist Program in Prosthodontics utilized the most up-to-date technology and methodology, adopted from numerous international journals, resource people from universities in other countries who give training, and the experience when making ocular prosthesis in the community service program to provide ocular prosthesis training and services regarding consultation centers and ocular prosthesis services. This initiative has been implemented annually for three years: in 2020, 2021, and 2022. The Ocular Prosthesis Consultation and Service Center has obtained a copyright in the form of a video about making artificial eyes.

The students of the Specialist Program in Prosthodontics who have created ocular prosthesis at the consultation center and services successfully presented 20 case reports at the Maxillofacial Virtual Online Scientific Competition during The 12th Biennial Congress of the Asian Academy of Prosthodontics and took home the first and second place in IPROSI in the second year program.

The management team for this Ocular Prosthesis Consultation and Service Center includes the General Manager (Putri Welda Utami Ritonga, DDS., MDSc., Sp.Pros(K)), the Manager of Production (Prof. Haslinda Z. Tannin, DDS., M.Kes., Sp.Pros(K)), the Manager of Administration/Finance (Veronica Angelic, DDS., MDSc., Sp.Pros), and the Manager of Marketing (dr. Aryani Atiyatul Amra, M.Ked(Oph)., Sp.M(K)). Consultation activities, training, and artificial eye services are carried out at The Specialist Program in Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, located on Jalan Alumni, No. 02, Faculty of Dentistry, Universitas Sumatera Utara.

Universitas Sumatera Utara Medical Studies on “One Health” approach to deal with Knowlesi Malaria and Other Emerging Infectious Diseases

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The emergence of new diseases calls for new preparations. While viral diseases like avian flu, zika, and Ebola have not reached the pandemic status of Covid-19, records of their epidemic have been numerous. Covid-19 proves that no viral diseases should be underestimated; new strains could emerge almost without warning and the best vigilance is always understanding what to expect and how to respond. As a major university in North Sumatra, Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) needs to contribute medical studies to look for ways to improving human well-being and quality of life through disease prevention.

Many emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic: deriving from pathogens present in animals through changes in the ecosystems and land use, intensification of agriculture, urbanization, international travel, and trade. A collaborative and multi-disciplinary approach, cutting across boundaries of animal, human, and environmental health, is needed to understand the ecology of each emerging zoonotic diseases to undertake risk assessment and develop response strategies. Recognizing this scope, USU has adopted a “One Health” approach in medical studies by building a multidisciplinary collaboration to achieve optimal health outcomes by recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment. Currently, USU is undertaking medical research on Knowlesi malaria directed by Dr. Inke Nadia D. Lubis, Ph.D, a medical specialist and researcher from USU and is conducted in USU Medical Research Facility Center.

Knowlesi malaria is a novel emerging disease in Southeast Asia. It is a malaria parasite of the long-tailed (Macaca fasicularis) and pig-tailed (M. nemestrina) macaque monkeys and is transmitted by the Anopheles leucosphyrus group of mosquitoes. First identified as an emergent public health threat in 2004, human malaria from P. knowlesi has now been reported throughout the region in countries where the macaque hosts and mosquito vectors are found. Dr. Inke has confirmed the presence of this malaria in North Sumatera, where it has contributed to 32% of malaria cause in studied areas. She and her team has been developing a rigorous molecular detection tool that targets the schizont-infected cell agglutination variant antigens (SICAvar) as a unique gene to P. knowlesi. This increases its recognition and identification in humans, enabling quicker response and more detailed monitoring.

USU is collaborating with the Indonesia Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, and Australia Menzies School of Health Research as part of its “One Health” approach to strengthen the surveillance of zoonotic malaria in Indonesia. North Sumatra is home to two national parks in which some forests had been impacted by changes in land use to plantations and farming, making it one of the places best suited to this study. This international collaboration evaluates the disease burden, agricultural practices, and mosquito vectors associated with knowlesi transmission. The study would help identify the type of intervention measures needed to control knowlesi malaria, prevent the introduction of other zoonotic diseases to the population while ensuring that agricultural development remains sustainable.