The Doors Within Liveliness

Related image
Plant cell wall By: ThoughtCo

“life needs a membrane to contain itself so it can replicate and mutate” – Fran Lanting

Enclosed by the membrane (also known as the plasma membrane), every single cell has an entrance: the entrance to remain alive or depart life. Behaving as the barrier, it restricts unwanted substances from entering. In spite of that, it also carries the function of permitting essential materials needed for growth. This critical part of life mainly consists of phospholipids and proteins. It can be sorted into two bilayers called hydrophilic and hydrophobic.

“Water Fearing” and “Water Loving”

Related image
“Hydro-” which means water is presented as the prefix in both of the words. Hydrophilic has the suffix of “-philic” which refers to fondness or love. Whereas, Hydrophobic has the suffix of “-phobic” which convey the meaning of extreme fear or dislike. This implies that the Hydrophilic layer prefers hydrophilic molecules with the tendency to dissolve or mix with water. Oppositely, the Hydrophilic layer’s preference is molecules that do not dissolve in water, unlike hydrophilic’s preference. The image above illustrates the hydrophilic heads facing out which act as the exterior of the cell membrane and hydrophobic tail facing each which acts as the interior structure. 

The Passage of Substances

Cell transport is known as the passages of different range of substances. Varieties of different ways can be done in order to provide needed substances for the cell to remain alive. Those can be classified into 2 majors types

Passive Transport – Transporting substances without the requirement of energy input.

1.  Simple Diffusion: Small molecules such as oxygen or carbon dioxide easily pass through the cell membrane by squeezing through the lipid layer molecule of the cell membrane. 

2. Osmosis: Osmosis helps to stabilize the fluid level to balance within and outside the cell. This can be achieved by permitting the water molecule in and out of the cell through the cell membrane. 

3. Facilitated Diffusion:  With the absence of facilitated diffusion, the hydrophilic molecules will not bypass the interior structure of the cell membrane. This type of diffusion separated into channel protein and carrier protein. Channel protein from tiny pores in the cell membrane allowing the hydrophilic molecule to pass through a hydrophobic interior. Carrier protein can carry substances by binding without diffusing substances.  

Active Transport- Transporting substances with the requirement of energy input.

1. Sodium-Potassium pump: The Sodium-Potassium pump moves sodium ions out of the cell while pumping potassium ions (K+) into the cell.

2. Exocytosis: Known as vesicle transport, exocytosis is the passage of substance to the outside of the cell. Appearing as vesicles, they fuse with the cell membrane and release the substance to the outside environment. 

3. Endocytosis: Endocytosis transport substance by pinching off the cell membrane while also carries the substance to the inside of the cell. 

This barrier acts as a wall in our bodies. It sets the boundary of cells by separating it from the outside environment. Apart from protecting the cell from infections. it operates beyond this. With the permeable layer, the crucial decision of countless molecule’s existence inside and outside the cell is made by the membrane. If cell membranes are inexistent, the cell will disastrously lose vital functions which only leads to the death of the organism. 

The Vietnam War | Literacy

“ War demands sacrifice of the people. It gives only suffering in return.” Frederic Clemson Howe

Over the course of the world’s history, war is not an unused term to narrate those infamous devasted periods of time. The conflicts between or within countries left countless consequences to millions of lives (e.g, hunger, loss of people, health issues, and mass destruction of the economy). Besides those consequences, the results pass on to the citizen to endure the damage it has done. Eventually, the damages are scripted in historical records as a representation of numerous scars on our land. 

In English Literacy, I’ve studied one of the depressing war called “Vietnam War”. The period of time consists of 1955 to 2975. While many might call it a civil war within the country between the north and south, America was also one of the army forces engaged in the war. We have read the novel called “Inside out and back again “ By Thanhha Lai and numerous other documented history about the war itself. 

Word Choice, Tone, & Meaning 

While the novel is written in the poem phrase, word choice, tone and meaning are crucial to how the reader perceived it. Furthermore, it shows a perspective of emotion, feeling, experience and a meaningful purpose for the reader to explore. I’ve chosen one of the poems from the novel titled “Wet and Crying”. This poem shows Ha’s favorite papaya tree to be cut down by his brother due to the hatred that the north shouldn’t have the papaya tree and her mother’s advice to eat as much fresh food as their future’s food might not be what they’ve wished for. To flee to another country, many things they once adored must remain in the same place that they were going to abandon. 

WET & CRYING | Writing
Within every each of the words, they have a different meaning to represents and response to different parts of Ha’s family and her situation. As the decisions were made, everything they’ve known and loved would be left behind. The words “Chop”, “Slice” contribute the selfishness and heartless they need to be in order to prepare the mindset to walk through a new chapter. “Crying” shows the rushing emotion as sacrificing is the only thing Ha could do to the tree she’s treasured. Ha, and her family is going through an intimidating and miserable time. The tone of the word “fresh”, “fleck”, “Green”, “Yellow” shows the little amount of faith, belief and hope they have after making a decision to dip their toes into the unknown by escaping from the south. 

Memorable Moments 

Besides the novel, moments of desperate survival, injustice, end of the war are shown in photographs. 

I FEEL SYMPATHY | My opinion

The war ended but the severe wounds leave scars in many lives. I feel sympathy for all the people who experienced or suffered in the war. Unlike them, I only know it from the documentation that is just a small portion of all the suffering, loss, trauma, grief and other jumble of intense emotions. To me, Wars are never meant to happen if only peace is the main guide in an argument. 

Electricity in Cambodia | Higher Demand Annually

Electricity: Economics, Infrastructure & Access exploration 

As a  developing country, numerous Infrastructure and industry take up a huge part of the robust growth in Cambodia’s economy. To continued, electricity is needed to supply and provide energy to those fields. Those energy sources are produced in various ways such as biomass, hydropower, solar panel, wind power, and coal power plant. With the need for electricity, the demand is increasing every year.

Earlier this year, I have the privilege to participate in an Electricity exploration. In Electricity exploration, we covered 3 main topics including Economics, Infrastructure, and Access. During the exploration, we explore electricity in Cambodia, the implications and its method and affect by taking a trip to different places such as Energy Lab, Okra solar and Blue circle.

EnergyLab and ISPP 

  • Mr. Andrew Williamson presenting

As an opportunity to understand deeper into the topic of renewable energy and its rise in Cambodia and the world, we visited EnergyLab. This company encourages startup entrepreneurs to create more clean energy by providing numerous resources and skills. With the global vision of renewable energy, the company implements different programs and events allowing different people to come in groups for networking, learn, share experience and collaborate as a team. 

Mr. Andrew Williamson presented us with different energy sources. Furthermore, with Cambodia’s GDP increase 7 percent annually and electricity demand grows from 12 to 17 percent annually,  renewable energy consists main of wind and solar will be our most reliable option to include in the Cambodia national grid. At last, the presentation shows the decrements of price in renewable energy compare to other sources like coal and oil. This shows that developing countries in Cambodia will be able to afford those technologies and implement them in our country. 

EnergyLab was founded to support new business and technological initiatives that move Australia and the world toward 100% clean energy solutions” – EnergyLab

After the presentation, we visited  ISPP to see a solar power system is now supplying 1MW cover half of the school’s electricity needs every month. They save a lot of money without the dependence entirely on the grid. When electricity cut off from the grid, they use electricity that the sun produced. One of the financial problems they faced is the tariff. While saving a lot of money, the government has set a tariff they needed to pay. While the price is increasing, the amount of money they saved is less than before. Among the mechanism, they have a controller to control the flow of electricity. By doing this they ensure they electricity will not flow into the grid and damage the grid system. In conclusion, the solar system help school in both financial and environmental way. 

Okra solar

  • One of the staff from Okra explaining us about the mini-grid

“Okra plug-and-play smart grids combine the flexibility of standalone PAYG solar systems with the power availability of fully-fledged mini-grids.” said okra. We went to a village called Kbal Domrey located in Kampong Speu province along the company to understand people’s lives off-grid. It was fascinating how the mini-grid can provide efficient and reliable energy to all of the villages at an affordable price. Many of the family who uses the service from the company mention that it has improved their life by allowing them to use electrical appliances for entertainment or business. Most of them used to have solar on their own but it was very expensive when a battery stopped working. With the service, the company provides a high-quality service to ensure the system is working.  

Empowering People Through Energy Access” – OkraSolar

Blue Circle

  • A presentation about energy from Blue Circle Company

Wind energy work from the course of wind that spin the turbine which created a force to spin the other gears to create electricity. Producing electricity through wind energy help to reduce co² emissions, At the moment, Cambodia does not own any wind project under operation. Fortunately, researches conducted by Blue circle shows the potential of building the infrastructure in Cambodia. Throughout the presentation from the staff in Blue circle company, we’ve learned about how they conduct research, the importance of renewable energy, the future vision, the price, the change of energy sources in Cambodia and worldwide. 

The Blue Circle brings clean, renewable and affordable energy to southeast Asia” – The Blue Circle

How has my perspective change about electricity?

After exploring about electricity, my perspective has a vast difference compared to when the exploration first started. In ancient times, electricity might be very valuable and fascinating but in this present time, it has changed. I grew up in a city where clicking a switch and using electrical appliances are a habit. Electricity supplies my home at every time of the day.  

By understanding the process of making electricity, I can give more value to all of the operations behind the energy supplying country. Some of the sources of energy such as coal fireplants make me understand that as a part of using electricity, I am also part of creating co² emission. It creates a desire in me to help improve the environment and support renewable energy in my country. In addition, I learn to save energy not just to decrease the bill but to help the planet I am living in. Now I have learned to appreciate and be grateful for the ability to access electricity on-grid for all the convenient and for the fact that off-grid villages do not. 

How to be happy when you aren’t what society expects

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

A major key that leads to true happiness is being who you are. Unfortunately, this generation has created a boundary that told you to not get out. Societies have myriad of stereotypes and concepts that are being used to judge you as a person. Sometimes, it is almost impossible to be yourself due to the pressure that makes it seems like you must fit into the expectation of modern society. If you are a woman or man, society has created those categories they expect you to be in, rather than giving more freedom to be yourself. It is as if you’re being locked in a cage where you don’t have the ability to go to catch or show uniqueness inside your soul. Rather than thinking about other people criticism or opinion, use your time to be in your best true version. These are ways to just be yourself while you can feel better and be more confident.

The acceptance of being you

During your childhood, it is very easy to be yourself because no one really puts the pressure on kids to be in a certain way. In the process of growing,  you will be less good at being yourself due to the influence that society sets for you. It is okay if you don’t feel comfortable being who you are because of the way other people think about it. You don’t need to make yourself bigger or better while making others feel smaller than you. You’re beautiful, precious, lovely in a way not everyone can see. If you are a female and you love to have short hair, it is your right to do something you feel beautiful in. If you are male and love to put on makeup, remember everyone wouldn’t say it is beautiful but you should be proud of being brave. Being who you are with the criticism and the thought of other people might not be the situation you wish to be. Experiencing your uniqueness out of the cage of society is a gift the universe gives you to be different from others. Those criticisms can be unpleasant but being true to yourself can be the most beautiful life experience of all time. 

Acceptance is being able to feel beautiful in whatever you feel comfortable in. ” – Barbie Ferreira

Raise awareness 

After getting all of the criticism, you can know the feeling of being judged by other people from society. You understand all of those feelings for yourself and others. With all of the criticism involving in your life, you should be brave to help raise awareness for yourself, others and society. EndVowNow quoted, “Awareness-raising can be an important part of developing community support for changes in the informal justice sector”. By raising awareness, our people in this generation would have more freedom of being who they wish to be rather than a person that society sets for us.There are many campaigns or international days such as human rights, women’s right, pride day and more. Those messages such as campaign, events, conference as a community wouldn’t spread in one day. Change need times and participation from every human being. With effort and participation to raise awareness, our generation will be a place of freedom where we can be ourselves “regardless of our race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”. (United Nations)

Awareness in our society has flipped all types of injustice on its head.” – Serj Tankian

Motivate yourself 

Caroline McHugh on The Art of Being Yourself Ted Talk quoted “What do you expect from life? And what life expects from you? ”. These two critical questions could be used to motivate yourself for not being what the society told you to be. It is the priority to think about what are the things you expect and what life expects from you. You can have a dream of becoming a dancer while your society says you should be a doctor. Don’t be afraid to stand up to follow the path you expect because life expects us to learn new things and never regret being who you are. Furthermore, you can also set a path for things you love to do without the need to get permission from our society stereotypes and criticism. People always make a mistake and from time to time you will learn from it. 

In Conclusion, never play a role as someone who society expected to be, show your uniqueness given from nature. Your talents, feeling, uniqueness are a part of you and it will always remain simply just by being yourself. Eventually, you’ll never be perfect to fit in everyone perspective but always remember that you live a life to please yourself not the society’s expectations.

These are the links that are inspiring for being yourself:

 

 

Poetry Study | An art to reflect your soul

 

The word Poetry has been used in English for more than 6 decades. It comes from the Greek word Poiētēs, meaning “to make”. Poetry is the genre created to express the emotion, feeling, loss and diversity of the human’s mind. There are different types and form of poetry in English literature. Furthermore, more than 50 types of the poem were created such as haiku, free verse, cinquains, epic, ballad, acrostic, sonnet, etc. They have a different structure, uniqueness, length, verse, rhythm and the core beauty of it. Poet prefers the poem by the rules or the styles of rhythm it has. 

Poetry is the essence of language and language is the mirror of the soul” Scott Griffin

Poetry is written at the small tip of a pen with emotion rushing through on the paper using letters. Good poetry can paint and illustrate the picture and emotion vividly. Moreover, it has the power to change people’s mind through the meaning of the words. Poetry is beyond definition hidden in imagination.  Continue reading “Poetry Study | An art to reflect your soul”

Responsible for independent learning

 

“You can’t escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today”- Abraham Lincoln

As our life continues, we can’t deny all of the responsibility we have to take as a person. From days to days, we grow up to learn how to take care of and be responsible for our life. It’s best to be prepared for all of the responsibility as it continues to give us. One of the big responsibility we might take as we age is education. The beginning of school means responsibility is added to your life. You need to ensure you are managing your time for study, homework, social life and more. Learning is one of the top priority and you should complete all of the work given to you. Students are being told to do what the teacher gives. As the education system develop, independent learning is also a very crucial part that allows students to have responsibility, integrity, determination with all of the work they complete and the time that they used. 

The last round of English literacy is a very special round. I was allowed to have an independent learning experience. I can manage and arrange all of the work and ensure I am using my time wisely with responsibility and integrity. During the experience, independent learning helps me to learn in my own pace and improve the area I needed to improve the most. At the end of the round, I’ve read many articles, write an essay about how to be happy when you’re not what society expected, how I change Cambodia, poetry study. 

Apart from those accomplishments, I’ve also read a book called The princess dairy 1 written by Meggin Patricia Cabot. She is an American author of romantic and paranormal fiction for teens and adults. She has written and published over fifty books and is best known for The Princess Diaries, later made by Walt Disney Pictures into two feature films of the same name. It is talking about a girl named Mia Thermopolis. She was just living in her regular teen life. Even though she’s a quiet girl that only write most of her feeling in dairy given from her mother, she’s about to find out who she really. The day comes and her father tells her news that everyone is keeping a secret from her. She learns the astonishing news that she’s a real-life princess!. This book is very interesting as it was written as a diary with every little detail of her. Before reading this book I’ve read so many other books with different taste and It was great to read different types of book. 

 

Origination of Algebra

The Origin 

The origin of the word “algebra” is derived from the Arabic word الجبر al-jabr which comes from the title of a manuscript written by the mathematician Al-Khwarizmi in the 9th century. The root word means restoration or completion. The book title is “ الكتاب المختصر في حساب الجبر والمقابلة ” translated to The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing”. Algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols. One of the definitions of algebra is “the part of mathematics in which letters and other general symbols are used to represent numbers and quantities in formulae and equations”. It is a good foundation before moving on to more complex part of mathematics. For decades, it has been used for many fields such as engineering, business, architecture, mathematics, science and more. 

The Importance

Algebra is one of the keys to understanding other advancements. In other subjects such as chemistry, physics, science, engineering, medicine, and economics depend on algebra. It teaches as beyond basic and is also the preparation before calculus and statistics. Learning algebra helps to develop our critical thinking skills as we’re trying to find the unknown answer to complete the problem. Furthermore, algebra can play roles in our every day including business, finance management, technology, cooking, sports, time management, etc.

Sources:

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/introduction-to-algebra/overview-hist-alg/v/origins-of-algebra

https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/science-in-a-golden-age/2015/10/al-khwarizmi-father-algebra-151019144853758.html

 

Work and Machine

Machines can include large appliances, power tools, factory machines, or construction equipment. While all of those are machines, other simple tools such as hammer, screw, wheel, axle and more are also considered as a machine. They are defined as a simple machine.

A machine is known to make our work easier. By applying the force to the machine, the machine will apply force to an object. Applying force to the machine is called “Input Force”, and when a machine applies force to an object it is called “Output Force

Work = Force × Distance

Machines make work easier by increasing the amount of force that is applied, increasing the distance or changing the direction in which the force is applied. They do not increase the amount of work that is done, they just change how the work is done.

Simple machine

There are 6 simple machines: 

Britannica.com
  1. Lever
  2. Wedge
  3. Pulley
  4. Wheel and axle
  5. Inclined Plane 
  6. Screw

Compound machine

Image (School toolbox)

Compound machines are consist of one or two types of simple machines. The picture below shows an example of compound machines: 

 

The Journey of Digital Art | Technology and Multimedia

 

In the present day, creativity can be made in so many form and structure. They can be made through painting, dancing, film, movie, literature, performing art, architecture, etc. It allows us to cross a door out of the boundary and create things from our soul, imagination, individuality, and inspiration. While there are so many ways, technology is one of the latest ways I’ve tried to be open to any creativity. In technology and multimedia class, students can choose different projects to work on using technology independently. I’ve chosen two of the Adobe software which is Photoshop and Illustrator.

Due to the passion I have about art, I’ve tried to make some digital art inside the Adobe software. The main tool I’ve used to outline most of the time is the pen tool. It allows the artist to create shapes with freeform curves. Unlike the pencil or paintbrush, it doesn’t drag where ever you want it to be. It wasn’t easy and comfortable when I first use it but from time to time it becomes much easier and faster.

 

 

Another challenge I face with digital art is coloring. I’ve been working with many projects in those software and one of them is turning my favorite portrait into a traditional Khmer dance cloth to a Cartoon portrait inspired by Dolify doll created by Dave Álvarez. When I do coloring I need to make sure that all of the skin shading and color is right. There all also different part of faces like the face, lip, eyes and many more. In addition to those portraits, I’ve done artworks such as watercolor portrait, Winnie the Pooh and gradient rose in the sky.

Gradient rose in the sky – Adobe Photoshop
A watercolor portrait – Adobe Photoshop
The moon and the Sun – Adobe Photoshop

 

Acid and Base | Lab Report

Acid and base are very crucial in our society. Without these two compounds, a variety of different product including paper, paint, detergent, soap, concrete wouldn’t exist.  

Even numerous types of foods contain acid and base. It is also very important for a living organism. One of the examples is many plants and fish needed a certain range of acid and base to grow and survive. 

While acid and base can be similar, there is a lot of differences between the two compounds. Both of these two compounds have the ability to conduct electricity. One of the differences in their properties. Acid taste sour when base tastes bitter. Acid produces positive hydrogen ions (H+) when dissolving in water. Whereas Base produces negative hydroxide ions (OH-). Another different is acid reacts with metal while the base doesn’t.

Different ranges of Acid and Base can be measured on a scale called the pH scale which ranges from 0 to 12. A pH value of less than 7 indicates an acid. The lower the number is, the stronger the acid. The higher the number is, the stronger the base

These are different cups of substances before we added the indicator

A certain compound can be an indicator that change color when acid comes in contact with them. In this experiment, red cabbage juice is used as an indicator to detect the PH level of acid and base. We can detect PH Level by observing the color of the substances after the indicator is added. In our experiment, we conducted an experiment with a different substance such as:

  1. Lime juice
  2. Vinegar
  3. Lime Soda
  4. Water
  5. Toothpaste
  6. Baking Soda
  7. Bleach
This picture shows the substances changes after adding the indicator.

A solution forms when one substance is dissolved by another. The substance that dissolves is called the solute. The substance that dissolves it is called the solvent. In the case, Lime juice, Vinegar, Lime Soda, Water, Toothpaste, Baking Soda, Bleach are solute. The cabbage represents the solvent. The solute is present in a lesser amount than the solvent. In another work, the cabbage is the indicator. After adding the indicator to the substance, we can see the obvious changes of the properties in each cups.