Getting really really lame nowadays. LOL.
Hmmm... Getting bored now, so wanna post some info up again(:
Pressure Flow Concept is a really cool and interesting concept that I would really like to share with you all. It is somehow linked to Translocation which is the transport of substances like sugars manufactured to the other parts of the plants.
1) Sugars manufactured form the source will move out to the phloem (sieve tube)
2) Water will also move out to the phloem via osmosis
3) Water present will cause a pressure gradient for sugars to move through the sieve tubes.
4) In areas where sugars are used up or removed for storage, sugars will move out of phloem
via diffusion or active transport.
5) Water will then move out of phloem and get conducted back to xylem.
(Therefore, aphids will Ooozzzze out a fluid which is actually sugars)
Hmmm.... Transpiration is a process whereby water is loss through the stomata of the leaves
Transpiration pull is resulted from a few procedures:
1) Water from the mesophyll moves out via osmosis and forms a thin film of moisture
2) Thin film will then evaporate to the intercellular spaces and leave the plant via stomata
3) Cells that loses water will have decrease in water potential and so will get water from
deeper cells.
4) Deeper cells get water from xylem directly and so will form a suction force to pull water
upwards, causing transpiration pull
Water moves up xylem in 3 ways:
1) Root Pressure:
Difference in water potential between soil and roots will cause water to move from soil to roots and this pressure created will force water from root hair cell up to xylem vessel
2) Capillary Action:
Cohesion forces between water molecules and adhesive forces between water and xylem vessels will allow water to be conducted upwards without breakage.
3) Transpiration Pull:
Due to cells that draw water directly from xylem vessels, allowing water to move against gravity.
Transpiration rate affected by a few factors:
1) Wind Movement: Higher amount of wind present will lead to water vapour to be blown away and lesser humidity allows more water to move out of plant.
2) Humidity: The more humid, the lesser transpiration as high water potential in surrounding will hinder water out of the leaves.
3) Temperature: Higher temp. will allow water vapour to be evaporated off quickly and so allowing more water to move out due to less humidity
4) Light Intensity: More light will cause stomata to open as photosynthesis occurs and so more water vapour will move out of plant.
5) Water potential: More water supplied to plant, will allow plants to lose more water without wilting.
Wilting occurs when more water loss than uptake and will cause plant cells to become flaccid and photosynthesis cannot take place.
1) Leaves fold up to reduce surface area for sunlight
2) Guard cells become flaccid and closes stomata
Transpiration importance:
1) Allow biochemical reactions to take place.
2) Give plant cells turgor pressure to keep upright
3) A very good solvent
Transpiration's bad:
Causes wilting
Xylem- Conducts water and to provide plants with mechanical support with its lignified wall
Phloem- Conducts food substances and ions
How do plants reduce transpiration:
1) Having a thick boundary layer where water have to move through a long way before it can move out
2) Having a cuticle layer
3) Having hair: Reabsorb water back to plant and prevent excessive loss of water
Joelle (:
Saturday, September 27, 2008
2 goodbye(:
YESYESYES! ENGLISH AND SS IS LIKE FINALLY OVER! (:
Waiting for the arrival of the rest(:
Joelle
Waiting for the arrival of the rest(:
Joelle
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
How bonded we are!
Challenges faced in maintaining peace in Singapore in the early years...
1) Managing Perceptions of different Racial Groups.
- Resulted in the race riots between different racial groups
- All beacuse of UMNO who spread that PAP was unfair to the Malays by highlighting the Malays' poverty.
- These stirred up unhappiness amongst the Malay community towards PAP
- The policies have affected people from different groups, irresponsible media reporting and purposeful propagating had made the Malays doubt their status in Singapore.
- Shows that if racial problems are not settled properly, will result in suspision and unhappiness amongst the different groups.
2) Managing Perceptions of different Religious Groups
- Maria Hertogh Riots over the custody of the girl, Maria
- Put under the care of a Malay lady when her parents were captured during the Japanese Occupation
- She was brought up as a Malay lady and even married a Malay teacher
- After war, Maria's parents came to get her back, and a court trial followed.
- Custody given back to the Hertoghs and caused the whole group outside to feel unhappy as they felt the British legal system was unfair towards them
- This aroused unhappiness amongst them towards the European and Eurasian communities.
- Case had many wide media coverage which made Malays feel upset as they felt their welfare were not taken care of.
- Caused the riots which led to 5 dead and 100 injured.
- Shows that if racial problems are not handled appropriately, will lead to hostility and distrust amongst the people.
3) Threats from External Forces
-Transnational Act refers to acts of violence that are global in terms of aims, organisation and impact. Example of this is Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant group that aims to set up an Islam state in Asia region
- S'pore was part of their aim after bombing areas like Jarkarta and Bali
- Aimed to bomed US embassy and gov ernment buildings
- 34 members captured for being involved in terrorism acts btw 2001-2004
- 1 memer caught in 2005
- These acts of violence, if successful, will kill and harm many people. Even if halted, it will test the social bonds of the people and may even divide the people.
- People who do not see things in perspective will blame the Muslims in S'pore for the act of violence done by Muslims of other countries and thus start to avoid them and make them feel unwelcome.
-Racist remarks hurled at them even though they had not done anything wrong.
- Muslims will thus feel unhappy.
-People who are influenced by JI radical ideas may be tempted to join and this will result in separation of the people.
1) Managing Perceptions of different Racial Groups.
- Resulted in the race riots between different racial groups
- All beacuse of UMNO who spread that PAP was unfair to the Malays by highlighting the Malays' poverty.
- These stirred up unhappiness amongst the Malay community towards PAP
- The policies have affected people from different groups, irresponsible media reporting and purposeful propagating had made the Malays doubt their status in Singapore.
- Shows that if racial problems are not settled properly, will result in suspision and unhappiness amongst the different groups.
2) Managing Perceptions of different Religious Groups
- Maria Hertogh Riots over the custody of the girl, Maria
- Put under the care of a Malay lady when her parents were captured during the Japanese Occupation
- She was brought up as a Malay lady and even married a Malay teacher
- After war, Maria's parents came to get her back, and a court trial followed.
- Custody given back to the Hertoghs and caused the whole group outside to feel unhappy as they felt the British legal system was unfair towards them
- This aroused unhappiness amongst them towards the European and Eurasian communities.
- Case had many wide media coverage which made Malays feel upset as they felt their welfare were not taken care of.
- Caused the riots which led to 5 dead and 100 injured.
- Shows that if racial problems are not handled appropriately, will lead to hostility and distrust amongst the people.
3) Threats from External Forces
-Transnational Act refers to acts of violence that are global in terms of aims, organisation and impact. Example of this is Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant group that aims to set up an Islam state in Asia region
- S'pore was part of their aim after bombing areas like Jarkarta and Bali
- Aimed to bomed US embassy and gov ernment buildings
- 34 members captured for being involved in terrorism acts btw 2001-2004
- 1 memer caught in 2005
- These acts of violence, if successful, will kill and harm many people. Even if halted, it will test the social bonds of the people and may even divide the people.
- People who do not see things in perspective will blame the Muslims in S'pore for the act of violence done by Muslims of other countries and thus start to avoid them and make them feel unwelcome.
-Racist remarks hurled at them even though they had not done anything wrong.
- Muslims will thus feel unhappy.
-People who are influenced by JI radical ideas may be tempted to join and this will result in separation of the people.
How much you know about DIALYSIS!
hmmm.... Most of you should know that dialysis is all beacuse of kidney failure. But why?
Kidney failure may be due to overworking of kidney cells and causing them to die. They will not be able to:
1) Remove excretory waste like urea, ammonia and uric acid (Poison blood is not removed)
2) Maintain pH and composition of blood
3) Act as an osmoregulator
Haemodialysis
At the end of the treatment, urea and excess mineral salts will be found in the solution
- Urea is able to diffuse into peritonium and thus will allow this treatment.
Kidney failure may be due to overworking of kidney cells and causing them to die. They will not be able to:
1) Remove excretory waste like urea, ammonia and uric acid (Poison blood is not removed)
2) Maintain pH and composition of blood
3) Act as an osmoregulator
Haemodialysis
Properties of dialysis machine
1) Highly folded convoluted tubes: Increase surface area for diffusion of substances
2) Small holes present in tubes: Allow only small particles such as urea and glucose to pass though and not large protein molecules or red blood cell
3) Flow of dialysate is opposite to flow of blood: Maintain a concentration gradient to allow efficient diffusion of urea out of blood
4) Glucose and Salt in correct composition: To allow only substances above that concentration to diffuse out.
Peritoneal Dialysis
At the end of the treatment, urea and excess mineral salts will be found in the solution
- Urea is able to diffuse into peritonium and thus will allow this treatment.
Homeostasis ROCKS!
Well.... Any idea what homeostasis is? It seems a really unique and isolated word that not many has seen, except for biology students. Thus, I decided to post this up so as to share additional information with all of you!
Homeostasis is the maintainance of a stable and constant internal environment of an organism.
Let me give you an example:
Stimulus- Very hot weather
Receptor- Hypothalamus in your brain detects decrease in water potential
Effector- Pituitary glands secretes more ADH (anti-diuretic hormones)
Control centre- sends suitable responses and receives the negative feedback
Response- More water will be absorbed in the body
Feedback- Send messages back to the brain when it has reached norm [Negative Feedback]
Heat is produced in the body in 3 ways:
1) Breakdown of carbohydrate and lipids
2) Hormones that control metabolic rate
3) Physical exercise the requires muscles
Heat is lost in 4 ways:
1) Radiation is proportional to the temperature difference and accounts to 50% of heat lost.
2) Conduction refers to 2 surface in contact (Heat molecules transferred frm hot to cold).
3) Convection refers to the rate of air and water movement.
4) Evaporation where heat converts liquid to gas and allows latent heat frm body to be lost.
Lets's share some new terms!
a) Poikilothermic refers to those that are unable to regulate their body temp by physiological means.
b) Ectothermic are those that are dependent to the environment temp.
c) Homeothermic are those that are able to maintain a fairly constant body temp.
d) Endothermic are those that are independent of environment temp.
Lets take a look at what happens during different conditions!
Overheating
When temperature is higher than usual, a few things might take place:
1) Sweating occurs to remove latent heat of vapourisation via evaporation.
2) Vasodilation of the arterioles will occur to allow more blood to flow near the surfaces of the skin to remove heat via radiation, conduction and convection.
3) Reduction of hormones such as adrenal and thyroid that will increase metabolic rate
All these occurs until body temp has reached the norm.
Overcooling
When temperature gets too cold, a few things might take place:
1) Sweating will not take place anymore
2) Increase of metabolic activities such as shivering to increase heat production
3) Erector muscles will contract and thus causing hair to erect to trap hair and form a layer of insulation to reduce loss of heat.
4) Vasoconstriction of arterioles will take place so as to reduce amount of blood flow to result in lesser heat to be lost thru radiation, conduction, convection.
5) Curl up to reduce surface area for heat loss.
All these occurs until body temp has reached norm.
Homeostasis is the maintainance of a stable and constant internal environment of an organism.
Let me give you an example:
Stimulus- Very hot weather
Receptor- Hypothalamus in your brain detects decrease in water potential
Effector- Pituitary glands secretes more ADH (anti-diuretic hormones)
Control centre- sends suitable responses and receives the negative feedback
Response- More water will be absorbed in the body
Feedback- Send messages back to the brain when it has reached norm [Negative Feedback]
Heat is produced in the body in 3 ways:
1) Breakdown of carbohydrate and lipids
2) Hormones that control metabolic rate
3) Physical exercise the requires muscles
Heat is lost in 4 ways:
1) Radiation is proportional to the temperature difference and accounts to 50% of heat lost.
2) Conduction refers to 2 surface in contact (Heat molecules transferred frm hot to cold).
3) Convection refers to the rate of air and water movement.
4) Evaporation where heat converts liquid to gas and allows latent heat frm body to be lost.
Lets's share some new terms!
a) Poikilothermic refers to those that are unable to regulate their body temp by physiological means.
b) Ectothermic are those that are dependent to the environment temp.
c) Homeothermic are those that are able to maintain a fairly constant body temp.
d) Endothermic are those that are independent of environment temp.
Lets take a look at what happens during different conditions!
Overheating
When temperature is higher than usual, a few things might take place:
1) Sweating occurs to remove latent heat of vapourisation via evaporation.
2) Vasodilation of the arterioles will occur to allow more blood to flow near the surfaces of the skin to remove heat via radiation, conduction and convection.
3) Reduction of hormones such as adrenal and thyroid that will increase metabolic rate
All these occurs until body temp has reached the norm.
Overcooling
When temperature gets too cold, a few things might take place:
1) Sweating will not take place anymore
2) Increase of metabolic activities such as shivering to increase heat production
3) Erector muscles will contract and thus causing hair to erect to trap hair and form a layer of insulation to reduce loss of heat.
4) Vasoconstriction of arterioles will take place so as to reduce amount of blood flow to result in lesser heat to be lost thru radiation, conduction, convection.
5) Curl up to reduce surface area for heat loss.
All these occurs until body temp has reached norm.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Natural Features (Geography-Related)
Maybe this post may be a little redundant but wells!
Any idea how the floodplain, levees and Oxbow lake is formed?
Floodplain and Levees
Floodplains are extensive low-lying flat land built up by deposition of alluvial soil due to repeated flooding. Levees are wide, elevated bank built up deposition of alluvial soildue to repeated flooding. During a flood, the rain that falls will result in water to overflow from the bank and thus causes the coarser and heavier materials to be deposited at the river bank and the lighter and finer materials to be carried further away and get deposited on the plain. As repeated flooding takes place, this alluvial soil will then be deposited layer upon layer, forming a thick, rich alluvial soil deposits known as floodplain. With coarser materials deposited at the bank, a layer above the floodplain is formed to form a natural embankment known as levees.
Oxbow-Lake
Firstly, understand how a meander is formed. In teh lower course, the velocity is low and so the river will flow through bends. These bends have an outer bank where erosion by undercutting takes place and an innderbank where deposition takes place. Over time, the outer bankwill form a concave shape and the inner bank will form a convex shape and thus forming a meander that is defined as the twist and turn of the river to form hoop-like bends.
So, now we will see how an oxbow lake is formed. Oxbow-lake is defined as a cresent-shaped lake found in floodplains and near a meander.Understand that oxbow lake is usually formed in the lower course of the river due to its low velocity where sediments are allowed to set down in river bed. In the outer concave bank, erosion by undercutting takes place that causes the meander's neck to be separated only by a narrow neck. And due to deposition in the inner convex bank, the oxbow lake will cut off from the river channel and flow in a straight stream.
Just for fun! (:
There are 4 ways to manage the river! River channelisation refers to the different strategies and methods to control both the volume and speed of flow of river.
1) River re-alignment that involves the altering of river channel by removing huge boulders or by widening and deepening the river channel by dredging. This helps to increase speed of flow.
2) River-resectioning that involves shortening of river to increase speed of flow.
3) Vegetation Planting and Clearance that involves binding the soil together and to increase speed of flow.
4) Bank protection that involves building artificial embankments, dykes and levees to preent the collapse of the river bank during heavy downpour when there is a increased in river volume. This is a really cool method as it actually have the ability to reduce the amount of erosion due to the force of running water that will thus reduce the amount of sediments to be deposited and piled up and thus increasing capacity of river to reduce threat of flooding.
That's all for today(:
Joelle
Any idea how the floodplain, levees and Oxbow lake is formed?
Floodplain and Levees
Floodplains are extensive low-lying flat land built up by deposition of alluvial soil due to repeated flooding. Levees are wide, elevated bank built up deposition of alluvial soildue to repeated flooding. During a flood, the rain that falls will result in water to overflow from the bank and thus causes the coarser and heavier materials to be deposited at the river bank and the lighter and finer materials to be carried further away and get deposited on the plain. As repeated flooding takes place, this alluvial soil will then be deposited layer upon layer, forming a thick, rich alluvial soil deposits known as floodplain. With coarser materials deposited at the bank, a layer above the floodplain is formed to form a natural embankment known as levees.
Oxbow-Lake
Firstly, understand how a meander is formed. In teh lower course, the velocity is low and so the river will flow through bends. These bends have an outer bank where erosion by undercutting takes place and an innderbank where deposition takes place. Over time, the outer bankwill form a concave shape and the inner bank will form a convex shape and thus forming a meander that is defined as the twist and turn of the river to form hoop-like bends.
So, now we will see how an oxbow lake is formed. Oxbow-lake is defined as a cresent-shaped lake found in floodplains and near a meander.Understand that oxbow lake is usually formed in the lower course of the river due to its low velocity where sediments are allowed to set down in river bed. In the outer concave bank, erosion by undercutting takes place that causes the meander's neck to be separated only by a narrow neck. And due to deposition in the inner convex bank, the oxbow lake will cut off from the river channel and flow in a straight stream.
Just for fun! (:
There are 4 ways to manage the river! River channelisation refers to the different strategies and methods to control both the volume and speed of flow of river.
1) River re-alignment that involves the altering of river channel by removing huge boulders or by widening and deepening the river channel by dredging. This helps to increase speed of flow.
2) River-resectioning that involves shortening of river to increase speed of flow.
3) Vegetation Planting and Clearance that involves binding the soil together and to increase speed of flow.
4) Bank protection that involves building artificial embankments, dykes and levees to preent the collapse of the river bank during heavy downpour when there is a increased in river volume. This is a really cool method as it actually have the ability to reduce the amount of erosion due to the force of running water that will thus reduce the amount of sediments to be deposited and piled up and thus increasing capacity of river to reduce threat of flooding.
That's all for today(:
Joelle
Thinking about the Environment
This will be just reflecting about the uses of rivers!
Any idea what a river, made up of only tributaries, distributaries and watershed etc. actually can do. It may be only be from a boring source, but if you think deep enough, you might feel that they are really cool natural phenomenon!
Firstly, rivers can actually form physical structures like the Grand Canyon of Arizona that is done by the Colorado River. It is really interesting to know about this as it is just a natural ability of the nature to do special things like that. Being able to form a unique physical landform will have a great impact on the country because it will bring about curious tourists to come to the country to have a look at it themselves and enjoy nature. Isn't it marvellous? Besides, the country also benefit from it as economic growth will increase.
Secondly, rivers can also facilitate human activities such as trading purposes and also to link indigenious people from various countries to have cultural exchanges to understand more about each other so as to reduce the chances of having conflict between countries. An example is the river that flows through Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia and Romania and empties at the Black Sea. Isn't it cool! People of various countries can easily meet one another by just a streamline! Wouldn't it be great if life was just that simple and thus reducing the amount of global warming caused by fuel used in machineries due to technology like aircraft. Gosh, the Earth needs to be saved from pollutants that causes the Earth to be sick! :(
Lastly, it provides humans the basic neccessity of our life! Water! For example, Ganges people go up to the Himalayas Mountains to obtain for cooking, drinking and washing. Water is one that will keep us alive and going and ensure that our cells have sufficient water to keep us alive with different functions. It also helps in maintaining our body temperature by homeostasis to maintain the stable and suitable internal environment in the body. So, dont you agree that rivers really have done a great part for the Earth? (:
Any idea what a river, made up of only tributaries, distributaries and watershed etc. actually can do. It may be only be from a boring source, but if you think deep enough, you might feel that they are really cool natural phenomenon!
Firstly, rivers can actually form physical structures like the Grand Canyon of Arizona that is done by the Colorado River. It is really interesting to know about this as it is just a natural ability of the nature to do special things like that. Being able to form a unique physical landform will have a great impact on the country because it will bring about curious tourists to come to the country to have a look at it themselves and enjoy nature. Isn't it marvellous? Besides, the country also benefit from it as economic growth will increase.
Secondly, rivers can also facilitate human activities such as trading purposes and also to link indigenious people from various countries to have cultural exchanges to understand more about each other so as to reduce the chances of having conflict between countries. An example is the river that flows through Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia and Romania and empties at the Black Sea. Isn't it cool! People of various countries can easily meet one another by just a streamline! Wouldn't it be great if life was just that simple and thus reducing the amount of global warming caused by fuel used in machineries due to technology like aircraft. Gosh, the Earth needs to be saved from pollutants that causes the Earth to be sick! :(
Lastly, it provides humans the basic neccessity of our life! Water! For example, Ganges people go up to the Himalayas Mountains to obtain for cooking, drinking and washing. Water is one that will keep us alive and going and ensure that our cells have sufficient water to keep us alive with different functions. It also helps in maintaining our body temperature by homeostasis to maintain the stable and suitable internal environment in the body. So, dont you agree that rivers really have done a great part for the Earth? (:
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Bomb Blast!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7614280.stm
Wells, Today is just going to be reflection on a quite tragic news (Click the link above to read).
I personally feel that the people who planted the bomb in India are really cruel people who have no idea that their wrongdoings have resulted in the deaths of many people. Have they ever thought that their actions could have caused the inconvenience of many people, especially the government.
Why do I say so? Look, if the areas bombed are places that people always go to, that is the places where the country's income will come from. Thus, through this incident, a lot of economic loss will be affected and India might even find it tough to cover the losses to need to rebuild a certain areas. Worst still, people who lost their family members must be drowned with sorrows and missed their family members dearly. It is indeed depressing to read a new like that.
Indeed, the government should try to find out those bombers and put them into justice. Otherwise, they might in turn do even more harm to others which is definitely not a good sign.
However, even if the bombers were be put to jail, it is not a full assurance that the same thing would not happen again. Who knows? There might be a case done by another group of people. Thus, India should come up with a plan to allow the people in their country to be prepared in those kind of horrid situations instead of panicking and in a lost. I believe that by giving the citizens a run through about what actions to take during life-and-death situations like that, will minimise the harm done to the humans.
What about you?
Joelle
Wells, Today is just going to be reflection on a quite tragic news (Click the link above to read).
I personally feel that the people who planted the bomb in India are really cruel people who have no idea that their wrongdoings have resulted in the deaths of many people. Have they ever thought that their actions could have caused the inconvenience of many people, especially the government.
Why do I say so? Look, if the areas bombed are places that people always go to, that is the places where the country's income will come from. Thus, through this incident, a lot of economic loss will be affected and India might even find it tough to cover the losses to need to rebuild a certain areas. Worst still, people who lost their family members must be drowned with sorrows and missed their family members dearly. It is indeed depressing to read a new like that.
Indeed, the government should try to find out those bombers and put them into justice. Otherwise, they might in turn do even more harm to others which is definitely not a good sign.
However, even if the bombers were be put to jail, it is not a full assurance that the same thing would not happen again. Who knows? There might be a case done by another group of people. Thus, India should come up with a plan to allow the people in their country to be prepared in those kind of horrid situations instead of panicking and in a lost. I believe that by giving the citizens a run through about what actions to take during life-and-death situations like that, will minimise the harm done to the humans.
What about you?
Joelle
Friday, September 12, 2008
Introduction
Hey all!
This blog created is strictly for reflections of newspaper articles or interesting facts. Nothing more.
Joelle
This blog created is strictly for reflections of newspaper articles or interesting facts. Nothing more.
Joelle
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