NASA Mars spacecraft to search for clues about why the Red Planet lost much of its atmosphere

NASA is preparing to launch its latest orbiter to Mars Monday on the hunt for clues about why the Red Planet lost much of its atmosphere.

The launch of Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN), could happen as early as 1:28 pm (1828 GMT) from Cape Canaveral, Florida, during a two-hour launch window.

The weather forecast was 60 percent favorable for takeoff of the unmanned orbiter, NASA weather officials said Sunday.

Researchers have described the mission as a search for a missing piece to the puzzle of what happened on Mars, perhaps billions of years ago, to transform Earth’s neighbor from a water-bearing planet that might have been favorable for life to a dry, barren desert with hardly any atmosphere.

“MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring and understanding the Martian upper atmosphere,” the US space agency said.

“The spacecraft will investigate how the loss of Mars’ atmosphere to space determined the history of water on the surface.”

NASA has sent a series of rovers to explore the surface of the Red Planet, including its latest, Curiosity, which arrived last year.

The deep space orbiter launched earlier this month by India seeks to find traces of methane from Mars and may arrive two days later than the US spacecraft, if NASA’s launch goes ahead as planned on Monday.

The science goals of the two do not overlap much. The Indian probe will be searching for methane which could prove the existence of some ancient life form, while the US probe seeks answers about the planet’s climate change.

The entire MAVEN mission cost $671 million.

The journey to Mars will take 10 months in total, with arrival set for September 2014 and the science mission of the solar-wing paneled orbiter set to begin in November 2014.

Much of its year-long mission will be spent circling the planet at a distance of 6,000 kilometers (3,800 miles) above the surface, but it will execute five deep dips to a height of just 125 kilometers (78 miles) to get readings of the atmosphere at various levels.

The eight-foot (2.5 meter) cube-shaped spacecraft weighs 5,410 pounds (2,453 kilograms) and will launch aboard an Atlas V 401 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Scientists hope its findings will help pave the way for a future visit by humans to the Red Planet, perhaps as early as the 2030, NASA has said.

Source

Scientist proposes ‘SETI Lottery Bond’ to fund search for extraterrestrial life

In an article for the Journal of British Interplanetary Studies, Jacob Haqq-Misra proposes to fund the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) project by issuing a bond that pays out when proof of intelligent life on other planets is discovered.

The proposed bond is a “lottery bond,” meaning that it will return a low and fixed rate of interest until it matures — and it only reaches maturity when the SETI project discovers definitive proof of the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life.

Once the bond matures, a few “lucky” bondholders will receive a handsome payout, while other investors will receive little to nothing, much like a conventional lottery ticket.

According to Haqq-Misra’s paper, “[t]he total capital raised this way will provide a fund to be managed by a financial institution, with annual payments from this fund to support SETI research, pay investor interest, and contribute to the lottery fund. Such a plan could generate several to tens of millions of dollars for SETI research each year, which would help to revitalize and expand facilities such as the Allen Telescope Array.”

Though Business Insider believes such bonds will be a hard sell because they assume the Drake Equation to be correct, “they’re a fun way to help underfunded space research [and] if we do end up finding an alien civilization, you or your descendants will be able to cash out big time.”

[“Alien Humanoid” on Shutterstock]

Source

Archaeologists discover five 4,000 year-old heads of royal statues from the pharaonic era

A team of Egyptian and French archaeologists have found five heads of royal statues from the pharaonic era, officials from the antiquities ministry said on Saturday.

“The heads, which had crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt and were made from limestone, were discovered” south of Luxor, Antiquities Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said in a statement.

The head of the department of pharaonic antiquities, Mohammed Abdel Maqsud, said the heads measured 50 centimetres (20 inches) across and are estimated to be around 4,000 years old.

He said experts were studying them to determine if they belonged to decapitated statues found in the same location several years ago.

Source

Hundreds of rare primates seized from animal smugglers in Indonesia

Hundreds of slow lorises have been seized on Indonesia’s Java island as animal smugglers were about to send the protected primates to markets to be sold as pets, officials said on Friday.

Government officials last week discovered 238 of the nocturnal animals, one of the few mammals that has a toxic bite, packed into small plastic crates at the port of Merak in the north-west of Java.

They had been smuggled from Sumatra, a vast, jungle-covered, biodiverse island that is home to many rare animals, said protection group the International Animal Rescue Foundation Indonesia.

The group took them to their rescue centre but on the way “six of them died… because they were squeezed tight in the crates and lacked food and water,” the foundation’s Aris Hidayat told AFP.

The animals were about to be sent to markets in the capital Jakarta and surrounding cities when they were rescued, Hidayat said.

Vets at the rescue centre believe the animals had only been captured recently and said hopefully they could be released back into the wild soon, he said.

The Natural Resources Conservation Agency, the government body that discovered the lorises, said a man had been named a suspect in the case and would face trial soon.

Under Indonesian law, someone caught selling protected animals faces a maximum of five years in jail and a 100 million rupiah ($8,700) fine.

The slow loris, which has big eyes, grey fur and is closely related to the lemur, is found across Southeast Asia.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature categorises the lorises on Sumatra as vulnerable.

Source

Weird Fish

       There are many animals – unique and mysterious animal that has not been found , since there are many places – places untouched by humans . Some time ago , we have witnessed the creatures – sea creatures with strange shapes and unique , well in this post , I will invite my readers to know the creatures – weird creatures of the river . Could sightings – sightings of the river is actually a cryptid creature sightings of this creature ?

        Like the ocean , the river is also home to thousands of species of freshwater animals . Not only fish , in the river was found to form different types of creatures and strange enough we’ve never seen before.

1. Goliath Tigerfish

 

Heard the name alone , we already know if this creature is not being careless . With a length of 1.5 meters and sharp teeth , of course a lot of people are afraid to look spooky fish . Goliath Tigerfish is the biggest variant in the family Tigerfish , and is a great predator . Fish is known for its power and speed.

2. Vampire Piranha

Vampire Piranha is a close relative of the famous piranha fish of the Amazon river . This fish is called piranha because vampire fangs that can reach 6 inches . Piranha fish which is rarely known to live in the Orinoco River , Venezuela .

3. African Lungfish

River creatures were quite strange in my opinion . For people who have never seen it, would have thought this creature as a monster because of the creepy . However , despite the terrible shape , these animals are completely harmless . These fish adapt to their environment less oxygen , thus making this fish rarely seen by humans .

4. Mekong Giant Catfish

Certainly most readers already know this one fish . Fish that is almost similar to the whale shark is the largest freshwater fish ever found and originated in China . Its size alone is closer to whales than freshwater fish in general .

Source

Example of Questions

5W1H Question :

 

• Who

Who are you?

Who’s living in that house?

Who is going to school by bus?

Who went to school by bus yesterday?

Who’s ate my pudding last night?

 

• What

What are you talking about?

What kind of job are you doing right now?

What’s your favourite song?

What is your dream?

What kind of person are you?

 

• Where

Where do you college?

Where is your girlfriend live?

Where do you live?

Where is my pencil?

Where are you right now?

 

• Why

Why budi ate my pudding last night?

Why this happen to me?

Why i must helping you?

Why you do this to me?

Why do you love me?

 

• When

When is the sunrise?

When did he leave?

When the exam begin?

When do you married?

When your uncle died?

 

• How

How did you get there?

How long did you lived in that house?

How old are you?

How are you?

How did you get that job?

 

• Yes – No Question

Do you watch anime very much?

Do you like anime?

May I borrow your Laptop?

Do you like sweet things?

Do you have a girlfriend?

 

• Tag question

with auxiliaries

You’ve got a car, haven’t you?

without auxiliaries (use: don’t, doesn’t, didn’t)

They play football on Sundays, don’t they?

She plays football on Sundays, doesn’t she?

They played football on Sundays, didn’t they?

Special question

Open the window, will you?

Let’s take the next bus, shall we?

 

Source:

http://ielts-yasi.englishlab.net/YES_NO_QUESTIONS.htm

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/qu_tags.htm

Definition Of Information Questions

5W 1H Question :

Who

• Identify the characters in the reading and make a list of them.
• Draw connecting lines between the characters and describe to yourself the relationship between the characters.

What

• Identify the events or actions and make a list of them.
• Draw connecting lines between the events or actions to show the relationship between  them.
• Draw connecting lines between the characters and the events as you describe to yourself the relationship between them.

Where

• Identify all the places in the reading and make a list of them.
• Draw connecting lines between places, events and characters as you describe to yourself the relationship among them.

When

• Identify all the time factors in the reading and make a list of them.
• Draw connecting lines between time factors, places, events and characters as you describe to yourself the relationship among them.

Why

• Identify causes for events of actions and make a list of them.
• Draw connecting lines from the causes to effects on the characters, events, places, or times as you describe to yourself the relationship among them.

How

• Identify the way events took place and make a list of them.
• Draw connecting lines between the way events took place and other factors as you describe to yourself the relationship among them

Yes No Question :

Definition:  An interrogative construction that expects an answer of “yes” or “no.” Contrast with wh- question.

Examples and Observations:

                        Homer: Are you an angel?

                         Moe: Yes, Homer. All us angels wear Farrah slacks.

                        (The Simpsons)

“Directing a movie is a very overrated job, we all know it. You just have to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ What else do you do? Nothing. ‘Maestro, should this be red?’ Yes. ‘Green?’ No. ‘More extras?’ Yes. ‘More lipstick?’ No. Yes. No. Yes. No. That’s directing.” (Judi Dench as Liliane La Fleur in Nine, 2009).

            Principal McGee: Are you just going to stand there all day?

            Sonny: No ma’am. I mean, yes ma’am. I mean, no ma’am.

             Principal McGee: Well, which is it?

             Sonny: Um, no ma’am.

             (Eve Arden and Michael Tucci in Grease, 1978)

The yes-no question is found in three varieties: the inverted question, the typical exemplar of this kind; the inverted question offering an alternative (which may require more than a simple yes or no for an answer); and the tag question:

            Are you going? (inversion)

            Are you staying or going? (inversion with alternative)

            You’re going, aren’t you? (tag)

The inverted question merely inverts the subject and the first verb of the verb phrase of the corresponding statement pattern when that verb is either a modal or an auxiliary verb or the verb be and sometimes have. The question itself may be positive or negative:

She is leaving on Wednesday.

            Is she leaving on Wednesday?

    . . . A positive question appears to be neutral as to the expected response–yes or no. However, a negative question seems to hold out the distinct possibility of a negative response.

            Are you going? Yes/No.

            Aren’t you going? No.

(Ronald Wardhaugh, Understanding English Grammar: A Linguistic Approach. Wiley-Blackwell, 2003)

“There are many different ways to format questions on a survey. Let’s say you want to measure people’s attitudes toward premarital sex. You could ask a simple yes-no question:

        Are you in favor of premarital sex?

        ___ Yes ___ No

Or you could use a Likert-type scale where the question is phrased as a statement.” (Annabel Ness Evans and Bryan J. Rooney, Methods in Psychological Research, 2nd ed. Sage, 2011) Also Known As: polar interrogative, polar question, bipolar question

Tag Question :

Question tags are the short questions that we put on the end of sentences – particularly in spoken English. There are lots of different question tags but the rules are not difficult to learn.

Positive/negative

If the main part of the sentence is positive, the question tag is negative ….

• He’s a doctor, isn’t he?
• You work in a bank, don’t you?

… and if the main part of the sentence is negative, the question tag is positive.

• You haven’t met him, have you?
• She isn’t coming, is she?

With auxiliary verbs

The question tag uses the same verb as the main part of the sentence. If this is an auxiliary verb (‘have’, ‘be’) then the question tag is made with the auxiliary verb.

• They’ve gone away for a few days, haven’t they?
• They weren’t here, were they?
• He had met him before, hadn’t he?
• This isn’t working, is it?

Without auxiliary verbs

If the main part of the sentence doesn’t have an auxiliary verb, the question tag uses an appropriate form of ‘do’.

• I said that, didn’t I?
• You don’t recognise me, do you?
• She eats meat, doesn’t she?

With modal verbs

If there is a modal verb in the main part of the sentence the question tag uses the same modal verb.

• They couldn’t hear me, could they?
• You won’t tell anyone, will you?

With ‘I am’

Be careful with question tags with sentences that start ‘I am’. The question tag for ‘I am’ is ‘aren’t I?’

• I’m the fastest, aren’t I?

Intonation

Question tags can either be ‘real’ questions where you want to know the answer or simply asking for agreement when we already know the answer.

If the question tag is a real question we use rising intonation. Our tone of voice rises.
If we already know the answer we use falling intonation. Our tone of voice falls.

Source :

http://designjournalsos.blogspot.com/2012/01/amusement-theme-starter-ultimate-how-to.html

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-questions-tag.htm

 

PROUNOUNS

Definition : A pronoun is used in place of a noun or nouns. Common pronouns include he, her, him, I, it, me, she, them, they, us, and we.

Here are some examples:

INSTEAD OF: Budi is a good athlete.he is a good athlete.

(The pronoun he replaces Budi.)

INSTEAD OF: The beans and tomatoes are fresh-picked.They are fresh-picked.

(The pronoun they replaces the beans and tomatoes.)

Often a pronoun takes the place of a particular noun. This noun is known as the antecedent. A pronoun “refers to,” or directs your thoughts toward, its antecedent. Let’s call Budi and ask him to join the team.

(Him  is a pronoun; Budi is its antecedent).

To find a pronoun’s antecedent, ask yourself what that pronoun refers to. What does him refer to in the sentence above—that is, who is the him? The him in the sentence is Budi; therefore, Budi is the antecedent.

• Subjective Pronouns

A subjective pronoun acts as the subject of a sentence—it, performs the action of the verb. The subjective pronouns are he, I, it, she, they, we, and you.

He spends ages looking out the window. After lunch, she and I went to the planetarium.

• Objective Pronouns

An objective pronoun acts as the object of a sentence—it, receives the action of the verb. The objective pronouns are her, him, it, me, them, us, and you.

Cousin Eldred gave me a trombone.Take a picture of him, not us!

• Possessive Pronouns

A possessive pronoun tells you who owns something. The possessive pronouns are hers, his, its, mine, ours, theirs, and yours.

The red basket is mine.Yours is on the coffee table

• Demonstrative Pronouns

A demonstrative pronoun points out a noun. The demonstrative pronouns are that, these, this, and those.

That is a good idea. These are hilarious cartoons.

A demonstrative pronoun may look like a demonstrative adjective, but it is used differently in a sentence: it acts as a pronoun, taking the place of a noun

• Interrogative Pronouns

An interrogative pronoun is used in a question. It helps to ask about something. The interrogative pronouns are what, which, who, whom, and compound words ending in “ever,” such as whatever, whichever, whoever, and whomever.

What on earth is that? Who ate the last Fig Newton?

An interrogative pronoun may look like an interrogative adjective, but it is used differently in a sentence: it acts as a pronoun, taking the place of a noun.

• Indefinite Pronouns

An indefinite pronoun refers to an indefinite, or general, person or thing. Indefinite pronouns include all, any, both, each, everyone, few, many, neither, none, nothing, several, some, and somebody.

Something smells good. Many like salsa with their chips.

An indefinite pronoun may look like an indefinite adjective, but it is used differently in a sentence: it acts as a pronoun, taking the place of a noun

• Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun introduces a clause, or part of a sentence, that describes a noun. The relative pronouns are that, which, who,and whom.

You should bring the book that you love most.

That introduces “you love most,” which describes the book.

Hector is a photographer who does great work.

Who introduces “does great work,” which describes Hector.

• Reflexive Pronouns

A reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of a sentence. The reflexive pronouns are herself, himself, itself, myself, ourselves, themselves, and yourselves. Each of these words can also act as an intensive pronoun (see below).

I learned a lot about myself at summer camp. (Myself refers back to I.)

They should divide the berries among themselves. (Themselves refers back to they.)

• Intensive Pronouns

An intensive pronoun emphasizes its antecedent (the noun that comes before it). The intensive pronouns are herself, himself, itself, myself, ourselves, themselves, and yourselves. Each of these words can also act as a reflective pronoun (see above).

I myself don’t like eggs. The queen herself visited our class.

Reference : http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0885483.html

Subject, Verb , Complement, Modifier

• SUBJECT

Definition: The subject of a sentence is the noun, pronoun or noun phrase that precedes and governs the main verb. The subject is the part of the sentence that performs an action or which is associated with the action.

For example:

* He is a really nice guy.
* “He” is the subject of the sentence, controlling the verb and the complement.
* My dog attacked the burglar.
* “My dog” is the subject, controlling the verb and the rest of the sentence.
* David plays the piano
* The subject “David” performs the action of “playing the piano”.
* The police interviewed all the witnesses.
* The subject the police performs the action of interviewing all the witnesses.

• VERBS

Definition: Verbs are a class of words used to show the performance of an action (do, throw, run), existence (be), possession (have), or state (know, love) of a subject. To put it simply a verb shows what something or someone does.

For example:

* Paul rides a bicycle.
* Here, the verb rides certainly denotes an action which Paul performs – the action of riding a bicycle.
* We buy some books to learn English verbs.
* In this example, the action word is “to buy”. It tells us that the subject “we”, that is the person who performs the action of the verb is “buying some books”.

The verb tense shows the time of the action or state. Aspect shows whether the action or state is completed or not. Voice is used to show relationships between the action and the people affected by it. Mood shows the attitude of the speaker about the verb, whether it is a declaration or an order. Verbs can be affected by person and number to show agreement with the subject.

• COMPLEMENT

a complement is the part of a Sentence that comes after the Verb and is needed to make the sentence complete. The following are the most important types of complement used in English:

a.  SUBJECT COMPLEMENT

Eg: He’s a surveyor. (The Subject is completed by the complement to the verb. This is a Copula Verb.

b.  OBJECT COMPLEMENT

Eg: She sent him the fax. (The sentence is completed by telling us what she sent to him.)

c.   ADJECTIVAL COMPLEMENT

Eg: They’ll be happy. (The sentence is completed by the Adjective; this could be extended further, they’ll be happy to see us, etc..)

d.  PREPOSITIONAL COMPLEMENT

Eg: They talked about what needed doing. (The sentence is completed by the Phrase linked to the verb by the Preposition.)

• MODIFIER

tells the time, place or manner of the action. Very often it’s a prepositional phrase. Prepotional phrase is a group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun.
Note : A modifier of time usually comes last if more than one modifier is present.

Example of prepositional phrases :
In the morning, at university, on the table.
A modifier can also be an adverb or an adverbial phrase :
Last night, hurriedly, next year, outdoors, yesterday
Example : John bought a book at the bookstore
(modifier place)
Jill was swimming in the pool yesterday
(modifier of place)(modifier of time)

Note :
The modifier normally follows the complement, but not always. However, the modifier, especially when it’s a prepositional phrase, usually can’t separate the verb and the complement.
Example : She drove the car on the street
(verb) (complement)

Reference : http://mangantar.wordpress.com/

Experience while making practical projects Basic Electronics

     I’ll tell you a little about the experience while making tool Basic Electronics lab project. In Basic Electronics lab I got a project with the title “Door Alarm with Infra Red”. This is the first project that I made with a group of friends.

     The first thing we do is create a series Schematic Door Alarm with Infra Red, and placed on board the PCB (Printed Circuit Board). After installing the necessary components such as IC (Integrated Circuit), Diodes, Resistors, LED (Light Emiting Diode), Buzzer, etc.. Since this project was first created, then there are many mistakes that occur such as:

– One lane placement on the circuit schematic.

– At the time of Eching on the PCB there are some lines missing.

– Many of the components due to excess tension and sort when soldering components is too long.

      At the time of making the tool With Infrared Door Alarm is finished, it turns the device output is still less than perfect due to a series Door Alarm With Infrared obtained from Lab. Basic Electronics is still not perfect. So all that got the project through its output is still less than perfect.

     And then the paper-making project. Because the manufacture of paper became my responsibility, so I asked the AP (Project Assistant) to ask the provisions of paper-making project. But after the paper was finished, it was still one of the papers (after already stated correctly by the AP), then occurring several times revised papers.

      But ultimately the manufacture of tools and paper projects are completed on time, and that is the impression when creating projects Basic Electronics lab.