Notions of English Disciple

Summary of Narrative Text

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 05:14:00 +0000

Summary of Narrative Text

Narrative

A narrative is a piece of writing that tells a story.
The story can be imaginary or based on a real incident. A narrative always deals with some problems which lead to the climax and then turn into a solution to the problem.

The communicative purpose of narrative text:
1. To tell a story about something or someone.
2. To amuse or entertain the readers or listeners.

The examples of narrative texts:
1. Short stories
2. folk tales
3. legends
4. myths
5. fables
6. novels
7. cartoon strips
8. picture books

The text organization

Orientation sets the scene (where and when the story happen) and introduces the participants of the story (who and what is involved in the story).
Complication tells the beginning of the problem which leads to the crisis (climax) of the main participants.
Resolution provides solution to the problem either in a happy ending or in a sad (tragic) ending.
Re-orientation (optional) gives a closing remark to the story. It consists of a moral lesson or advice.
Sometimes, a writer puts his judgement on a certain participant or a certain event. This is called evaluation. Example: The mouse was small but kind-hearted.

Language features
1. Past tense
2. Nouns
3. Pronouns
4. Noun phrases
5. Time connectives and conjunctions
6. Adjectives
7. Adverbs
8. Adverbial phrases of time and place
9. Material processes (action verbs)
10. Verbal processes (saying verbs)
11. Direct speech
12. Indirect speech

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Predicates

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 23:41:00 +0000

Predicator and Predicates
(semantic)

Predicator
A sentence can be divided into referring expressions and one predicator.
The predicator describes the state or process in which the referring expressions are involved.
Example:
a) The boat sank
“sank” is the predicator in “The boat sank” and describes the process involving “the boat”
b) The cat is in the garden
“in” is the predicator in “The cat is in the garden” and describes the state involving “the cat” and “the garden”
c) Sarah is hungry
“hungry” is the predicator in “Sarah is hungry” and describes the state involving “Sarah”

The predicators can be various parts of speech:
1. Adjectives: hungry, blue
2. Verbs: read, walk, love
3. Prepositions: in, beside, behide
4. Nouns: house, town
Word of other parts of speech, such as conjunctions (and, but, or) and articles (the, a) cannot serve as predicators in sentence.

Predicate
Predicate is any word (or sequence of words) which (in a given single sense) can function as the predicator of a sentence.
Example:
Hungry, in, love, house are all predicates.
And, or, but, not are not prediates.

Predicator and Predicate
Look at this sentence below!

A tall, handsome stranger entered the saloon

“enter” is the predicator.
tall, handsome, stranger, saloon are the predicates, and can function as predicators in other sentences, example:
a) He is handsome.
b) He is stranger.
c) That big house is a saloon.
d) Beny is tall.

-om can-
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Classification of carbohydrates with examples

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 02:41:00 +0000

Classification of carbohydrates with examples

What are carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are organic compounds made up of the elements or components carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The hydrogen and oxygen atoms are present in the ratio 2:1. The general formula for carbohydrates is CnH2mOm.

Foods containing carbohydrates come mainly from plants and are a good source of energy for the body. There are three main groups of carbohydrates: monosaccharide, disaccharides, and polysaccharides.

Monosaccharide or single sugar
There are many single sugars or monosaccharide. The most common single sugar are the sugars with six carbon atoms – glucose, fructose, and galactose. Glucose is found in all animals, at least in small quantities. Fructose is found in plants, but rare in animals. Galactose is found in milk sugar from mammals. Glucose, fructose, and galactose have the same general formula C6H12O6, but their atoms are arranged differently within the molecules. These different arrangements give the sugars different chemical and biological properties.

Disaccharides or double sugars
Double sugars are so called because each molecule of a double sugar is made up of two molecules of single sugars bonded together. Double sugars are also called disaccharides. Disaccharides have the general formula C12H22O11. However, their atoms have different arrangements within the molecules. Common disaccharides are maltose, sucrose, and lactose.

Maltose = glucose + glucose. Maltose occurs in sprouting grains.
Sucrose = glucose + fructose. Sucrose occurs in sugarcane stems, sweet fruits, and certain storage roots, for example, carrots.
Lactose = glucose + galactose. Lactose occurs in the milk of all mammals, including humans.

Polysaccharides or complex carbohydrates
Polysaccharides consist of many monosaccharide molecules joined together. Starch, glycogen, and cellulose are complex carbohydrates. Plants store glucose in the form of starch. In animals and fungi, the main store of glucose is glycogen. Cellulose forms the main parts of the cell walls of plants. Starch, glycogen, and cellulose are each made up of numerous glucose molecules condensed together, but the glucose molecules are linked together and arranged in different ways. Hence, starch, glycogen, and cellulose have different properties.

What are the functions of carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are needed:
- As a substrate for respiration, to provide energy for cell activities.
- To form supporting structures, for example, cell walls in plants.
- To be converted into other organic compounds such as amino acids and fats.
- For the formation of nucleic acids, for example, DNA.
- To synthesize lubricants, for example, mucus which consists of a carbohydrate and a protein.
- To synthesize the nectar in some flowers. Nectar is a sweet liquid that plants produce to attract insects.

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My valuable body love a lot of water

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 00:02:00 +0000

How much water do we need?

Water is lost from the body during breathing, in the urine, the feces and through sweating. To replace the amount of water lost daily, a normal, healthy and usually active adult in a temperate climate requires about three liters of water a day. In hot climates, slightly more water may be needed.

The amount of water needed by the body depends on these factors:

How active a person is – a person who plays sports or carries out physical labor need more water.
How healthy a person is – some diseases, for example, diabetes, causes sufferers to pass much more urine, so they need more water than healthy people do.
The environmental conditions – people living in hot and dry climates need more water than those living in temperate climates. However, people who have lived in hot conditions for a long time become adapted to these conditions and therefore need less water than those who have not adapted to hot conditions.

In conclusion, the amount of water that is needed by a person depends on his/her activities and the person healthy, as well as on the environmental conditions. Because water is extremely important to life, we need to drink at least eight glasses to fulfill our water need in a day.

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My life needs H2O

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 03:29:00 +0000

My life needs H2O. Every living thing needs water. Water is an essential component of protoplasm. In mammals, about 70% of the body weight is water. Hence, water is extremely important to life. In fact, in most conditions, human can survive longer without food than without water. A person can survive only three to five days without water, in some cases people have survived for an average of one week.

What are the functions of water?
Water is a solvent for many substances. This property helps water to serve the following functions in the body:

Water is the medium or substance in which chemical reactions occur in an organism.
Water helps to transport dissolved substances around the body, such as:

Digested products from the small intestine to other parts of the body.
Excretory products or waste products from the tissue cells to the excretory organs for removal from the body.
Hormones from the glands to parts of the body which require them.

Water is a key component of:

Protoplasm.
Lubricants found in joints (lubricants reduce friction between the joints during movement).
The digestive juices.
Blood.
Tissue fluid.

In addition, water has these functions in animals:

It is needed for certain reactions, such as hydrolysis in digestion.
It helps to control the body temperature. Water is a component of sweat. When sweat evaporates from the skin surface, latent heat of vaporisation is removed. The body is cooled down.

In flowering plants, water is:

essential for photosynthesis.
needed to keep plant cells turgid or firm and the plant itself upright.
needed to transport mineral salts up the xylem from the roots to the leaves.
needed to transport food substances from the leaves to other parts of the plants.

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How to Calculate MA of Pulleys

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:51:00 +0000

How to Calculate MA of Simple Machine of Pulleys

The effort needed to lift a load can be halved by using two pulleys: one fixed and the other moving. A single rope is passed over these pulleys. One end of which is fixed while the other end is attached to the effort. If the pulleys are frictionless, the tension in the rope remains the same in its entire length.

As seen from the (free body diagrams), the effort (E) is equal to the tension (T) in the rope. Tension in two rope segments balances the load (W).
Hence,
E = T and W = 2T

Mechanical Advantage (MA) is the ratio of load overcome to effort applied. In this case,
MA = W/E = 2T/T = 2

Play this movie to know well about Mechanical Advantage of pulley:

By looping more ropes around more pulleys we can continue to increase the mechanical advantage.
Learn this image!

click the image to enlarge

Source:
http://wn.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

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Experiment of Centrifugal Force

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 05:39:00 +0000

Centrifugal force is the fictitious effect that appear when an object is doing a circular motion. Centrifugal means moving away from the center of rotation. For example, every time we are in a car and take a bend - we feel a force pushing us to the outside of the curve. Or, If you ever go to dunia fantasi in Jakarta and ride rotation train (rollercoaster), when the train rotates and turned up, why don’t you fall? That is the effect of centrifugal force. Same as that event, in this activity you will show that water in a pail, when the pail rotates, the water does not spill, although when the pail is above, the pail faces downward turned up.

What do you need?

A string of length 60 cm.
A small plastic pail.
250 ml water.

What must you do?

Bundle string strongly to the pail holder.
Put in the water into the pail.
Find big enough place so there is no danger of pail hit, if the pail is released. Better this experiment is done in the yard.
Hold the string which its one end has been bundled to pail holder, then rotates the pail fast.

What happens?

The water will stay in the pail though the pail in turned up condition.

Why can this happen?
Centrifugal force which appears because of circular motion, balance the gravitational force, so the water does not spill from the pail. That force causes the water is turned up at the side of pail, the water doesn’t spill and it doesn’t spill out from the pail. If you succeed making this experiment, you can try it again by using tennis ball as replacement of the water, and certainly the experiment is done outside the house.

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Comparison of Alcohol and Mercury Thermometer

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:16:00 +0000

The word thermometer comes from the word thermos meaning warm and meter meaning measuring device. Etymologically, the thermometer is a device used to measure the temperature appropiate and express it by a number.
Thermometer is commonly made of a glass tube which is filled with liquids. The liquids are used as a thermometer filler, because the liquids undergo the change in volume if the temperature changes.

Commonly, thermometers use alcohol and mercury to fill their tubes, because alcohol and mercury have superiorities compared with anothers. However, there are also the weaknesses of alcohol and mercury. Meanwhile, if we compare between mercury and alcohol thermometer, we will find the superiorities and weaknesses of alcohol and mercury. Those are as follows:

Comparison of Alcohol and Mercury Thermometer

The Superiorities or the advantages of Alcohol:

It can measure a low temperature, because its freezing point is low (-115ºC).
It can measure the temperature precisely, because it has large expansion coefficient.
Its expansion is reguler.
less hazardous.

The Weaknesses or the disadvantages of Alcohol:

It cannot measure a high temperature, because its boiling point is low.
It makes wet the wall of its place.
It is colourless so it must be given dyestuff in order to be visible.
less durable (alcohol evaporates)

The Superiorities or the advantages of Mercury:

It is visible, because its colour is silvery shinning.
its expansion is regular.
It does not make wet the wall of its place.
It can measure the temperature quickly and precisely.

The Weaknesses or the disadvantages of Mercury:

It cannot measure very low temperature, because its freezing point is high (-40ºC)
Mercury is poisonous, so it harmful if its tube is broken.
Its price is very high.
display is harder to read
cannot be used for thermograph
slow response
fragile

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Measuring Temperature by Using Touch-Sensory Organ

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 06:37:00 +0000

In everyday life, we often hear or even feel hotness and coldness. Usually, to feel the hotness or coldness of a body, we only use the sense by touch-sensory organ. For example, the ice cream feels cold when we hold it, the boiling water feels hot when we touch it, or at noon the air feels hot. However, basically, the touch-sensory organ of everyone in feeling something, mainly about the hotness or coldness of a body are relatively different. Hence, measuring hotness and coldness degree of a body by using touch-sensory organ is not always correct and relative, it depends on the tendency of the sense and the sensitivity of the touch-sensory organ for everyone.

The hotness or coldness degree of a body is called temperature. In the discussion above it has been explained that to measure the temperature, you cannot use touch-sensory organ, because the result is relative. To prove it, do the following activity:

Measuring temperature by using touch-sensory organ

I. Objective
Investigating whether the touch-sensory organ is appropriate to be used for measuring temperature.

II. Devices and materials
1. Three jars/pails.
2. Cold water (melting ice), ordinary water, and warm water.

III. Working procedures
1. Fill the first jar with the warm water, the second with the ordinary water, and the third with the cold water.
2. Dip your right hand into the first jar, then dip your left hand into the third jar. Let it for one minute and feel the temperature.
3. Lift both of your hands from the first and the third jar, then put it quickly into the second jar. What felt is the both of your hands?
4. Make the conclusion from the activity above.

From the activity above, it can be concluded that the touch-sensory organ is inappropriate to expressed the temperature of a body. This is proved when doing third step in activity above, the right hand feels water is cooler while left hand feels water is warmer. It means the touch-sensory organ gives the relative responses to the temperature. Therefore, it is required a device to measure the temperature of a body.

Source: IPA-FISIKA

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CELL STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATION

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:18:00 +0000

CELL STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATION

The cytoplasm contains organelles and an internal membrane system called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). It is an organelle of cells in eukaryotic organisms that forms an interconnected network of tubules, vesicles, and cisternae.

Rough ER (RER) transports proteins from the ribosomes to the Golgi apparatus for secretion out of the cell. Rough endoplasmic reticula are involved in the synthesis of proteins and is also a membrane factory for the cell, while smooth endoplasmic reticula is involved in the synthesis of lipids, including oils, phospholipids and steroids, metabolism of carbohydrates, regulation of calcium concentration and detoxification of drugs and poisons.

Ribosomes are involved in protein synthesis. Most are attached to RER but some lie freely in the cytoplasm.

Smooth ER (SER) is involved in producing fats and steroids and in detoxification.

The Golgi apparatus, also known as the Golgi complex or Golgi body, secretes substances made by the ER out of the cell. It also stores and modifies substances for secretion. This organelle found in most eukaryotic cells.

Vesicles transport substances within the cell.

Mitochondria provide energy when food substances are broken down by oxidation during cell respiration. This membrane-enclosed organelle found in most eukaryotic cells.

Chloroplasts are the sites for photosynthesis. They are present only in plant cells.

Centrioles play a part in cell division. They are present only in animal cells.

Vacuoles in animal cells are small, numerous and temporary. They contain food substances and water. Plant cells have a large central vacuole containing cell sap.

sources:
Biology Matters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

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The Protoplasm

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:33:00 +0000

The function of protoplasm are reproduction, irritability, chemical, excretion, movement, and growth. The protoplasm of a cell is made up of three parts: the cell surface membrane, cytoplasm, and nucleus.

Cell Surface Membrane
The cell surface membrane or plasma membrane surrounds the cytoplasm of the cell. The cell surface membrane is a partially permeable membrane. This means that it allows only some substances to cross it. Hence, the cell surface membrane controls substances entering or leaving the cell.

Cytoplasm
The cytoplasm is the part of the protoplasm between cell surface membrane and the nucleus. It is where most cell activities occur. The cytoplasm contains enzymes and specialised structures called organelles. Organelles carry out various functions in the cell.
Many organelles, such as centrioles, are not visible under the light microscope. They can only be studied under the electron microscope. Cytoplasm can exist in either sol or liquid state or in gel or semi-solid state, so called because of its jelly-like consistency. Outer regions of the cell are usually in the gel state, while the inner regions are usually in the sol state.

Nucleus
The nucleus consists of a small round mass of denser protoplasm called nucleoplasm, surrounded by a membrane called the nuclear envelope. Functions of the nucleus:
- It controls cell activities such as cell growth and the repair of worn-out parts.
- It is essential for cell division. Cell without a nucleus, for example, the red blood cell of a mammal, have a short lifespan and are unable to divide.

Source:
Biology Matters
http://www.bcb.uwc.ac.za/Sci_Ed/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

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ADHD Symptoms

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:05:00 +0000

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD used to be known as attention deficit disorder, or ADD. ADHD is a condition affecting children and adults that is characterized by problems with attention, impulsivity, and overactivity. Persons with ADHD act without thinking, are hyperactive, and have trouble focusing. They may understand what's expected of them but have trouble following through because they can't sit still, pay attention, or attend to details. Their symptoms are present over a longer period of time and occur in different settings. According to their symptoms, ADHD has been divided into two subtypes, those are an inattentive type, and a hyperactive-impulsive type.

The first subtype is an inattentive type. The inattentive type kids can’t able to pay attention to details, and they tend to make careless errors in schoolwork or other activities. Next, they have difficultness with sustained attention in tasks or playing activities. They also have apparent listening problems, they can’t follow instructions, and they have problems with organization. Next, they tend to lose things like toys, notebooks, or homework, and they have problems to memorize their daily activities. Furthermore, they dislike doing tasks that require mental effort.

The second type is a hyperactive-impulsive type. The hyperactive-impulsive type kids tend to fidget and squirm. They can’t remain to sit, they are excessive in running or climbing, and they have difficulty waiting for a turn or in line. Next, they are difficult to play quietly, they are excessive in talking, and they always seem to be "on the go". Furthermore, they always blurt out answers before hear the full question.

In conclusion, Inattentive-type ADHD has symptoms that differs with Hyperactive-impulsive-type ADHD. But, children who are affected by ADHD have similarities. The similarities are they act mindlessly, and they are hard to focus. They may grasp what is commanded, but they are hard to follow the command. They can not sit quietly, they can not give attention, or they can’t do the task carefully.

Compiled and typed again by: Candra

Sources:

http://www.adhdtreatment.org/

http://www.4-adhd.com/

http://kidshealth.org/

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Recounts and narrative

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:59:00 +0000

Recounts

What is a recount?

A recount tells about something that happened in the past. The details in a recount can include what happened, who was involved, where it took place, when it happened and why it occurred.

A writer or speaker uses a recount to tell us about a story or an event. Recounts are usually given in the order that the event occurred. Recounts can be:

    factual, such as a news story
    procedural, such as telling someone how you built something
    personal, such as a family holiday or your opinion on a subject.

Examples of a recount

Recounts can be either written or spoken. Examples of recounts include:

    biographies and autobiographies
    newspapers or the television news
    letters and postcards
    textbooks
    conversations with friends

Example of a recount text:

My Rush Time as a Journalist

I usually woke up at eight o'clock a.m. and went to the Press Center to check the daily schedule of briefings and press conferences. It was usually held by the United Nation officials or disaster mitigation team.

It was challenging to visit different refugee camps to find soft stories, human interest stories. After that I went back to the Press Center to cover the press conferences of the day.

It was heart breaking when I saw these survivors fight for food and secondhand clothing. Unfortunately as they said, the food and clothing were limited and inadequate. Emerging to glaring, fool noon, it was time to go back to Press Center to write stories and race against time. I was always fearing that the internet would come crushing down.

After everything was done, only then I remembered to eat. Most times, I only ate once a day because I always had to rush and again it was difficult to find food. I had to travel quite far. I needed to spend a 30 to 45 minutes by car just to find fresh food.

-------

Narrative

Narratives tend to feature the use of:

    past tense verbs (mostly simple past but past perfect, past progressive, and sometimes would/could for past time meanings)
    adverbs with past time reference
    chronological order (signaled by those adverbials)
    proper nouns (for the names of people and places)
    personal pronouns (to refer to those people and places)

Research on narrative structure (see Bardovi-Harlig's work) points out the two major divisions that make up a narrative: (1) a story has a "foreground" that is the basic story and generally uses simple past tense verbs and is in chronological order; but a story also has (2) background which includes all the information that the storyteller thinks you need to have to understand the story--for example, generalizations, descriptions and previous events that influence the events in the story. The background tends to be more grammatically complex than the foreground with a greater variety of verb types--present tense for generalizations that are still true in the present, past perfect for events that happened prior to the time of the story, and others.

The background tends to be harder for our students to write than the foreground. For one thing, the grammar is more complicated. Just as importantly, knowing what your reader doesn't know is a very difficult task for a writer. We all struggle with that puzzle constantly in our writing.

Example of Narrative Text:

The Story of Sangkuriang and Tangkuban Perahu Mountain

Once, there was a kingdom in Priangan Land. Lived a happy family. They were a father in form of dog,his name is Tumang, a mother which was called is Dayang Sumbi, and a child which was called Sangkuriang.
One day, Dayang Sumbi asked her son to go hunting with his lovely dog, Tumang. After hunting all day, Sangkuriang began desperate and worried because he hunted no deer. Then he thought to shot his own dog. Then he took the dog liver and carried home.

Soon Dayang Sumbi found out that it was not deer lever but Tumang's, his own dog. So, She was very angry and hit Sangkuriang's head. In that incident, Sangkuriang got wounded and scar then cast away from their home.

Years go bye, Sangkuriang had travel many places and finally arrived at a village. He met a beautiful woman and felt in love with her. When they were discussing their wedding plans, The woman looked at the wound in Sangkuriang's head. It matched to her son's wound who had left severall years earlier. Soon she realized that she felt in love with her own son.

She couldn't marry him but how to say it. Then, she found the way. She needed a lake and a boat for celebrating their wedding day. Sangkuriang had to make them in one night. He built a lake. With a dawn just moment away and the boat was almost complete. Dayang Sumbi had to stop it. Then, she lit up the eastern horizon with flashes of light. It made the cock crowed for a new day.
Sangkuriang failed to marry her. She was very angry and kicked the boat. It felt over and became the mountain of Tangkuban Perahu Bandung.

Sources

http://understandingtext.blogspot.com/2009/11/example-of-narrative-text-in-legend-of.html

http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-6_u-124_t-339_c-1174/nsw/english/text-types/factual-text-types/recounts

http://understandingtext.blogspot.com/2009/05/recount-example-in-journalists-diary.html

http://www2.gsu.edu/~eslhpb/grammar/lecture_7/narrative.html

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KOH bind Carbon dioxide

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:11:00 +0000

KOH bind Carbon dioxide

KOH binds carbon dioxide, so if the leaves of plant are covered by a plastic bag, and in the plastic bag has been already given KOH then photosynthesis could not be carried out by the plant, the leaves of plants cannot produce oxygen and glucose.

If that so, can a certain amount of KOH be used to reduce carbon dioxide that has pollute in the air??
Hmmm...

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A computer was human

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:01:00 +0000

Before the 1920s, computers or computors were someone who has job to do the calculations. Computers usually worked as assistant of a physicist. They worked in commerce, government, or research institutes. Most of computers were female, and they were known having a title in calculus. Some computers made astronomical calculations for calendars.

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Characteristics of living organisms

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:42:00 +0000

Characteristics of living organisms

There are 9 characteristics of life used to differentiate living organisms from non-living things.

Nutrition
Intake of food into the body and its conversion into new protoplasm.

Respiration
Breakdown of food substances to release energy in cells.

Movement
Ability to move body parts and/or exhibit locomotion.

Excretion
Removal of metabolic waste products formed inside living cells.

Homeostasis
Maintenance of a constant internal environment.

Reproduction
Production of new individuals for the survival of the species.

Sensitivity
Ability to respond to changes in the environment.

Growth
Permanent increase in size with changes in form and structure.

Adaptability
Ability of organism to change so as to improve its chances of survival.

Source: Biology Matter

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Steps of the Scientific Method for kids

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 04:31:00 +0000

Steps of the Scientific Method

Biologists make observations and carry out experiments to help them learn about living organisms. This is the scientific method. The scientific method begins with observation and curiosity – asking questions.

Observations can be made anywhere. For example, as you run around playing a game you might notice that you breathe more quickly and that your heart beats faster. You may ask, “how much faster is my heart beating? How long does it take to slow down again? Why am I breathing faster?”. Biology is about finding answers to such questions.

Biologists often use past experiences, ideas and further observations to suggest an explanation or hypothesis to predict what will happen next. For example, “I breathe faster to get more oxygen into my body.” is a hypothesis. “The harder I exercise, the faster I should breathe.” is a prediction based on that hypothesis.

Biologists conduct experiments to test
whether or not the prediction is accurate.

If the experimental results match the prediction, they accept the hypothesis. If not, they reject the hypothesis and start all over again with a new hypothesis.

So, the scientific method is consist of several steps:

Ask questions.
Form a hypothesis.
Test your hypothesis, record the data, and make conclusions.

You may make a new scientific discovery.

Source: Biology Matter

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Examples of Specialised Cells

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 05:19:00 +0000

These are examples of specialised cells and how they have been modified for specific functions.

1. RED BLOOD CELL

The red blood cell contains a red pigment called haemoglobin. Haemoglobin transports oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body.

The red blood cell has no nucleus, enabling it to carry more haemoglobin and hence more oxygen.

The red blood cell has a circular biconcave shape. This increases the surface area to volume ratio of the cell. As a result, oxygen can diffuse into and out of the entire cell at a faster rate.

2. XYLEM VESSEL

Xylem vessels are long hollow tubes formed out of xylem cells laid end to end. They conduct water and mineral salts from the roots up to the stem and leaves. Xylem vessels do not have cross walls or protoplasm. This enables water to move easily through the central space or lumen.

A substance called lignin is deposited on the walls of xylem vessels. Lignin strengthens the walls and prevents the vessels from collapsing. When bundled together, the xylem vessels (also called 'wood') provide mechanical support to the plant.

3. THE ROOT HAIR CELL

The root hair cell is long and narrow. This increases the surface area to volume ratio of the cell. As a result, water and mineral salts can be efficiently absorbed from the soil.

sources:
Biology Matters chapter 2: cells
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/

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HOMEOSTASIS

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:19:00 +0000

Cells require a constant chemical and physical environment in order to carry out their functions. Therefore, organisms must be able to control their internal conditions. The maintenance of a constant internal environment is known as homeostasis. Homeostasis is the process that keeps body temperature constant and ensures that the composition of the body fluids is kept within narrow limits. By ensuring a relatively stable internal environment, homeostasis allows an organism to be independent from changes in the external environment. The external environment is the environment in which an organism lives. The internal environment refers to conditions within the body of the organism. In mammals, this include the blood an tissue fluid. Changes in the blood will affect the tissue fluid, which in turn will affect the cells of the body.

Example, "Shivering", a reflex contraction of your body muscles, occurs when your body temperature begins to fall. This spasmodic contraction of the muscles increases heat production and helps to raise your body temperature to normal.

sources:
BIOLOGY matters, wikipedia.

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Homograph, Homophone, and Homonym

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:14:00 +0000

Homograph, Homophone, and Homonym

What is Homograph?
Examples:
1. Lead:

I will lead my group to be the best team.
Did the police have a new lead to find your kids?

2. Close:

Will you please close that windows!
The tiger was now so close that I could smell it.

3. Wind:

How does a wind blow up a house?
Wind your watch!

So, a homograph (from the Greek: homos, "same" and grapho, "write") is a word or a group of words that share the same written form but have different meanings.

What is Homophone?
A Homophone (from the Greek: homos, "same", and phone, "voice, utterance") is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of "rise"), or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too.

Homophones of multiple words or phrases (as sometimes seen in word games) are also known as "oronyms". This term was coined by Gyles Brandreth and first published in his book The Joy of Lex (1980), and it was used in the BBC programme Never Mind the Full Stops, which also featured Brandreth as a guest.

Examples of "oronyms" (which may only be true homophones in certain dialects of English) include:

"ice cream" vs. "I scream"
"depend" vs. "deep end"
"example" vs. "egg sample"

What is Homonym?
In linguistics, a homonym (from the Greek homonumos, meaning "having the same name", which is the conjunction of homos, "one and the same” and onoma, "name") is one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings.
Examples:

- bow – a long wooden stick with horse hair that is used to play certain string instruments such as the violin
- bow – to bend forward at the waist in respect (e.g. "bow down")
- bow – the front of the ship (e.g. "bow and stern")
- bow – the weapon which shoots arrows (e.g. "bow and arrow")

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
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Definition of Sentence

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 22:57:00 +0000

Four processes are involved in the production of the words and sentences of language: selection, arrangement, modification, and intonation. We may thus define a sentence as follows: A sentence is a sequence of selected syntactic items combined into a unit in accordance with certain patterns of arrangement, modification, and intonation in any given language.

Many other definitions of sentences have been given. Otto Jespersen referred to them as "notional kernel". The term kernel has subsequently beer applied to the smallest, most fundamental sentences of a language. But since we cannot define notional satisfactorily, little can be done with Jespersen's characterization. Notebooks might be viewed as a notional kernel, for example, but it is not necessarily a sentence. Yet when uttered with an appropriate intonation pattern, in answer to a question like "What did you want me to bring?" is a sentence. A sentence has also been defined, therefore, as any string of morphemes ending with a final intonation pattern.

To provide the means for analyzing sentences or any other syntactic entities, two terms are used: construction and constituent. A construction is any complete group of words or morphemes. The term may be used for phrases, for example, "in the house"; clauses, for example, "if he comes"; or even sentences, for example, "She is leaving". A constituent is a morpheme, a combination of morphemes, or a construction that is component of a construction. For example, "in" is a constituent of "in the house"; "he comes" is a constituent of "if he comes"; and "She is leaving" is a constituent of "if he comes, she is leaving".

In syntactic analysis, constructions are progressively analyzed into smaller and smaller entities. The phrase "in the house", for example, is first analyzed into the preposition and its object "in" + "the house". The object is then analyzed into article and noun, "the" + "house". Each of there constituents is known as an immediate constituent, that is, one of the two (or less commonly three or more) constituents into which a construction may be analyzed. An immediate constituent is any one of the largest grammatical units that constitute a construction. Immediate constituents are often further reducible.
Examples of immediate constituent:
In the complex noun phrase "the dog that killed the cat", each of the following items are immediate constituents:

the
dog
that killed the cat

A major aim of syntactic analysis is to determine the constructions and constituents of sentences.
In other words, the purpose of syntactic analysis is to determine the structure of the input text. This structure consists of a hierarchy of phrases, the smallest of which are the basic symbols and the largest of which is the sentence. It can be described by a tree with one node for each phrase. Basic symbols are represented by leaf nodes, and other phrases by interior nodes. The root of the tree represents the sentence.

sources:
Descriptive linguistics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://koesnandar1964.wordpress.com/
http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/
http://eli-project.sourceforge.net/

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Where Do Crabs Live ?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 21:30:00 +0000

Where Do Crabs Live ?

Sometimes we see crabs in the water, but sometimes walk on land. Does it mean that crab is an amphibian? Crabs are not amphibians. But why can crabs stay long on the land and in the water?

Crabs are unlike frogs (amphibians), because frogs have two respiratory (lung and skin) that can live in two worlds (land and water), while the crabs only have gills. Crabs can not live on land, but can survive on land for 4-5 days by using the water reserves in their gills. So the crabs still can not live without water.

sources:
http://kidsgen.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
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Mosquito likes flying over black object

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:20:00 +0000

Why do mosquitoes prefer to fly over black object?

Actually, mosquitoes can not see well, mosquitoes like to fly above the black object because of the characteristic of black color, and the heat sensor of mosquitoes.

The black color absorbs more heat
In black color, all the spectrum of light absorbed, therefore the energy of radiation received in a black color becomes larger as we get the spectrum of light absorbed. In contrast, the white color reflects all the spectrum of light so that the effect is cooler. Certainly not only black color can absorb all the spectrum of light, but all the dark colors for example dark red, but the best heat absorber is black color.

Mosquito
Mosquitoes have very good heat receptors. Mosquito receptors exist in the lower of its abdomen. These receptors function as sensors of temperature and humidity. The receptors are able to distinguish the heat emitted by various objects. The heat will attract mosquitoes. Dark objects (especially black) are usually easy to absorb heat, but also easy to radiate heat that would attract mosquitoes.

Well, that's the reasons why mosquitoes prefer to fly over bodies with black or dark color.

Sources:
http://kidsgen.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

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Phoneme Morpheme and Syntax

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:43:00 +0000

Phoneme, Morpheme, and Syntax

A phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language.
In a language or dialect, a phoneme (from the Greek: phonema, "a sound uttered") is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances.

Here are examples of the phonemes /r/ and /l/ occurring in a minimal pair:

    * lip
    * rip

The phones [r] and [l] contrast in identical environments and are considered to be separate phonemes. The phonemes /r/ and /l/ serve to distinguish the word rip from the word lip.

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A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit in the grammar of a language. In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest conceptual meaningful component of a word. A morpheme is physically represented by morph(s) in sentences. i.e. in the word "unforgivable", the negative morpheme "not" is represented by the morph "un" whereas in another instance "intolerable", the negative morpheme "not "is represented by the morph "in".

The concept of word and morpheme are different: a morpheme may or may not stand alone. One or several morphemes compose a word. A morpheme is free if it can stand alone (ex: "lie", "cake"), or bound if it is used exclusively alongside a free morpheme (ex: "im" in impossible).

Examples (English): Unladylike
The word unladylike consists of three morphemes.
Morpheme breaks:

    * un- 'not'
    * lady '(well behaved) female adult human'
    * -like 'having the characteristics of'

None of these morphemes can be broken up any more without losing all sense of meaning.

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In linguistics, Syntax is the study of the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences.
Syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages. So, in other words, Syntax is the arrangement of words in a sentence.

sources:
http://www.sil.org/linguistics/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/syntax.htm
http://www.flickr.com/

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The Uniqueness of Planets

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:18:00 +0000

The uniqueness of Planets in the Solar System

Mercury: The smallest planet in the Solar System
Mercury can only be seen at dawn or sunset. Mercury has no natural satellites, and also has no atmosphere. The planet Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system with a diameter of 4878 km. Its rotation is very slow, the planet is only making three full rotations in twice revolves around the sun. That’s why one side of Mercury is very hot while the other side is very cold. Temperature reaches 4300 ° C on the part facing the sun, and -2200 ° C at the back to the sun. Because Mercury has no atmosphere, it makes a large temperature difference.

Venus: The Sunrise happens at the West and The Sunset happens at the East
Venus is a very bright planet. Venus is called the morning star and evening star, because the planet is visible in the east as the morning and in the west as twilight. Venus is also called a white planet because its light is white. Venus is almost as large as the earth.
Venus rotation direction is opposite from the direction of other planets rotation, so the sunrise is at the west and the sunset is at the east. In addition, the rotation period of Venus is longer than the period of the revolution around the sun.
Venus's atmosphere is thick and always veiled by clouds. Because of that, so planet Venus becomes the hottest planet in the solar system with temperature of 462°C. Venus does not have a satellite.

Earth: Planet of Life
Planet Earth is the largest of the four terrestrial planets. And Earth also has the highest density, the largest surface gravity, strongest magnetic field, and rapid rotation. Earth is also the only terrestrial planet that has an active tectonics plate. Earth’s atmosphere and the magnetic field protect the Earth's surface from the solar wind, ultraviolet light, and radiation from outer space. Planet Earth is the only planet that supports life.

Mars: Human Face on the Plain of Mars
On Mars, there is a unique feature in the Cydonia Mensae region. This feature is a hill that when viewed from above appears as a human face. Some people regarded it as an evidence of a long extinction of civilization on Mars, but in the present, it has been shown that the feature is just an ordinary natural appearance.

Jupiter: Planet with Greatest Storms
Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. This planet is about 318 times the size of Earth. Jupiter has 63 satellites. Jupiter is a gas planet with no land. EVERYTHING in there is GAS with extremely cold temperatures.
Jupiter has a large red spots that is called The Great Red Spot, this is like a hurricane storm that could hit areas of 40,000 km in length and width is 4000 km.

Saturn: lighter than water
Saturn has a low density because most of the constituent substances are in the form of gases and liquids. Among the planets in the solar system, Saturn is the only planet that its density is lighter than water.
Saturn has 59 moons. Saturn's core consists of solid rock. Saturn's atmosphere is composed of ammonia and methane gas.

Uranus: the coldest atmosphere in the Solar System
The form of the planet Uranus is similar to the surface of the Moon with green and blue color. Uranus's atmosphere contains lots of "ice", ammonia, and methane. Its atmosphere is the coldest atmosphere in the Solar System, with the lowest temperature of 49 K (-224 ° C).

Neptune: The Farthest Planet
Neptune is the farthest planet (eighth) when viewed from the Sun. Planet's rotation period is 16.1 hours, while the revolution period is 164.8 years. Neptune has 8 satellites. Neptune has greenish color.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://www.hightechscience.org/

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