Egg Osmosis Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Egg Osmosis - Lab Report Example Because of these changes that extracellular conditions may incur, animals such as humans have in them mechanisms like kidneys by which the interstitial fluid which bathe the cells remain isotonic to the cytoplasm. A differentially permeable plasma membrane is an important feature of cells as it encloses all the organelles to increase the concentration of reactants (by decreasing the volume) available for chemical processes specific to the organelle. In addition, it protects the cell from the constantly changing external milieu. The unregulated entry of big and ionic molecules is prevented by the hydrophobic interior of the membrane. Impermeable molecules that are nonetheless essential are transported through proteins embedded in the membrane. The most common example is water, which passes through the transmembrane aquaporins. The water molecule is an 18 g/mol molecule, which is small compared to a 32 g/mol O2 that can pass through the membrane much more freely than water. So how come water molecules still need aquaporins to be able to pass through the amphiphilic plasma membrane? Despite their neutral charge, water molecules are polar molecules which have a transient negative on the O side and a transient positive in between the two H molecules. This polarity makes them attractive to other polar solutes, producing a transient solute-water binding that decreases the thermodynamic activity (or movement). The more impermeable solutes are present the less is its activity. Because energy spontaneously flow from high to low thermodynamic activity, water movement, or osmosis, should go from a low (hypotonic solution) to high concentration (hypertonic solution) of solutes. If no osmosis was observed, the cytoplasm is said to be isotonic to the surrounding solution. Osmosis happening in cells was replicated in this experiment, with unshelled eggs

Social Computing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 2

Social Computing - Essay Example Directing the customers from these pages to the actual scholarly articles. This will increase the readership of the ‘Educated People Society’ website. It will help them gain various sponsors to run the website and fund actions related to environmental activities and scientific research. Checking the level of awareness created through the social media tools by conducting a questionnaire survey among them and involving in the qualifying youngsters in projects related to their interests. Creating an environmental awareness is the main objective. Be it a laptop the youngsters use or a leather jacket, they should be educated regarding the way it is created, the core technology and the various political and economical facts associated with it. This knowledge is important to make them valuable citizens in future. A youngster who changes his mobile once in year will stick to one smart phone for years if they realize how much e-waste they are creating. A person who knows how the plastic covers thrown around affects the environment will never use them again. Providing such information in an interesting format is the main objective of the social media tools used. The aim of the social media campaign is to advertise about the same by entering their territory. It is hard to make youngsters visit a science related site or lecture them about environment. But, taking the site to tools like Blogger and Twitter where they use will make them peek at it automatically. The blog and Twitter page explains about the animals and the photography site in Nat Geo. The technology blog related dwells with various subjects shown as documentaries in NatGeo, WWF and Green Peace websites. So youngsters with diverse interests will be directed towards these sites from their favourite pastime areas in the internet. The info presented will be mostly in the format of quizzes, puzzles and

Application of Transition Metals

Application of Transition Metals The term transition metal (sometimes also called a transition element) has two possible meanings: In the past it referred to any element in the d-block of the periodic table, which includes groups 3 to 12 on the periodic table. All elements in the d-block are metals (In actuality, the f-block is also included in the form of the lanthanide and actinide series). It also states that a transition metal is an element whose atom has an incomplete d sub-shell, or which can give rise to cations with an incomplete d sub-shell. Group 12 elements are not transition metals in this definition. Introduction to application of transition metals: The use of transition metals in the synthesis was taken up slowly by organic chemists. This is at first surprising because the industrial use of transition metals has a much long history hydroformylation using cobalt began in the 1930s. The Mond process using nickel tetra carbonyl was developed in the 19 century. Industry was willing to accept and uses processes that it could not understand black box reactions as long as they were profitable. Academics were handicapped by the desire to understand the chemistry. This was impossible until the ideas about chemical bonding and the necessary instrumentation matured in the years in the Second World War. Even with in this place, the impact of transition metals on the organic synthesis came late possibly because of the many fantastic main group reagents appeared. Application of Transition Metals: The application of transition metals is as follows: 1. Transition metals are applied in the organic reactions. Transition metals complex under goes a series of reactions that are generally unlike those main group compounds. The most fundamental is the simple coordination and dissociation of ligands. Dissociation may also be achieved by destruction of a ligand. This is often done by the oxidation of co and co2 using an amide oxide. 2. Transition metals are applied in the synthesis of metal hydride. M=C=O + OH- ====> M-H + CO2 Here metal carbonyl group reacts with hydroxide to give metal hydride and carbon dioxide. Hydrides such as, sodium borohydride, lithium aluminium hydride, diisobutylaluminium hydride (DIBAL) and super hydride, are commonly used as reducing agents in chemical synthesis. The hydride adds to an electrophilic center, typically unsaturated carbon. Hydrides such as sodium hydride and potassium hydride are used as strong bases in organic synthesis. The hydride reacts with the weak Bronsted acid releasing H2. Hydrides such as calcium hydride are used as desiccants, i.e. drying agents, to remove trace water from organic solvents. The hydride reacts with water forming hydrogen and hydroxide salt. The dry solvent can then be distilled or vac transferred from the solvent pot. Hydrides are of important in storage battery technologies such as Nickel-metal hydride battery. Various metal hydrides have been examined for use as a means of hydrogen storage for fuel cell-powered electric cars and other purposed aspects of a hydrogen economy. Hydride intermediates are key to understanding a variety of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalytic cycles as well as enzymatic activity. Hydroformylation catalysts and hydrogenase both involve hydride intermediates. The energy carrier NADH reacts as a hydride donor or hydride equivalent. 3. Transition metal used in the complexes in fluorescence cell imaging. Transition metal complexes have often been proposed as useful fluorophores for cell imaging due to their attractive photo physical attributes, but until very recently their actual applications have been scarce and largely limited to ruthenium complexes in DNA and oxygen sensing. 4. Transition metal used as Catalysts. Some transition metals are good catalysts. For example: most automobiles have an emissions-control device called a catalytic converter. This device contains a screen of platinum or palladium along with rhodium, a metal. The presence of the transition metals, along with the heat of combustion generated by an automobile engine causes an exhaust coming from an internal combustion engine to be broken down from partially burned hydrocarbon compounds into less harmful compounds such as water vapour and carbon dioxide. Catalytic applications of transition metals in organic synthesis:- OXIDATION REACTIONS: The epoxidation, dihydroxylation and aminohydroxylation reactions of alkenes, especially their asymmetric variants, continue to attract considerable attention. The basic principles were covered in the previous review. The use of fluorous solvents has now been demonstrated formany transition metal catalysed reactions. One advantage that they offer for catalyticepoxidation is the fact that molecularoxygen has a high solubility in fluorous solvents. The combination of O2 with pivalaldehyde and manganese catalysts hasbeen shown to be effective for epoxidation of alkenes in aracemic and enantioselective sense. The fluorous soluble ligand afforded a manganese complex which was insoluble incommon organic solvents, but soluble in the fluorous phase.Indene was converted into indene oxide with high enantioselectivity,although other substrates afforded low selectivity The fluorous phase, containing the active catalyst,could be recycled. Manganese salen complexes have also now been successfullyimmobilised within polymer supports, and still provide high Whilst the enantiomerically pure manganese salen complexes are still often the most enantio selective available for epoxidation of unfunctionalised alkenes, alternative systems are often reported. For example, End and Pfaltz have used rutheniumbis (oxazoline) complexes to provide up to 69% ee in the epoxidation of stilbene. The use of methyltrioxorhenium as a catalyst for epoxidationcontinues to attract attention. Herrmann and co-workershave shown that a combination of methyltrioxorhenium withpyrazole affords a highly efficient catalyst for the epoxidation of alkenes. Styrene was converted cleanly into styrene oxide with this catalytic combination. Reduction reactions The reduction of various functional groups can often be achieved using transition metal catalysts and a suitable reducing agent: often molecular hydrogen, silanes, boranes orhydrides. Amongst all of the possibilities, metal-catalysed hydrogenation has been the most widely studied, especially asan asymmetric process.Some recently reported examples of rhodium-catalyse dasymmetric hydrogenation of alkenes include the conversion ofthe enamide into the derivatised amino alcohols and the regioselective hydrogenation of dienyl acetate into the allyl acetate both using the Me-DuPhos ligand .Reports of new ligands for asymmetric hydrogenation of alkenes continue to appear, often providing highly selective examples.Ruthenium catalysed hydrogenation of alkenes is also popular,and an interesting example has been provided by Bruneau,Dixneuf and co-workers. The achiral substrate is hydrogenatedwith an enantiomerically pure ruthenium complex into compound , which behaves as propionic acid attachedt o a chiral auxiliary. The achiral auxiliary in the substrate is converted into an enantiomerically enriched one prior to a subsequent auxiliary controlled functionalisation. Lewis acid catalysed reactions:- Lewis acids are able to catalyse a wide range of reactions. Theaddition of cyanide to aldehydes is one such reaction and hasbeen studied by many groups. Recently, North, Belokon andco-workers have used a titanium (salen) complex to catalyse the addition of trimethylsilylcyanide to benzaldehyde withlow catalyst loadings. Less work has been reported on theenantioselective addition of cyanide to imines, although it providesa useful route to ÃŽÂ ±-amino acids (Strecker synthesis). However, there have been several reports of the enantio selective variant of this reaction by aluminium catalysts,non-metallic catalysts, and with the zirconium catalysts, reported here. The imine is converted into the ÃŽÂ ±-aminonitrile with good yield and enantio selectivity Scandium triflate is a good catalyst for the allylation of aldehydes with allylsilanes and stannanes. Aggarwal and Vennallhave detailed the allylation of aldehydes followed by in situ acylation.36 Benzaldehyde allylsilane and acetic anhydride undergo coupling to provide the homoallylic acetate withscandium triflate as the catalyst Kobayashi and co-workers have shown that a three component system comprising of benzaldehyde an amine,such as aniline and allylstannane affo rds the homoallylicamine The reaction works more quickly in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate SDS, which provides amicellar system .The allylation of isolated imines with enantiomerically pure palladium complexes has been achieved with up to 82%enantiomeric excess. Catalytic coupling reactions:- The formation of C-C bonds, as well as C-X bonds can becatalysed by many transition metals, although palladium complexesseem to have a greater scope than other metals. The useof catalytic coupling reactions to provide biaryls has recently been reviewed. 5. REAL LIFE APPLICATIONS: The fact that the transition elements are all metals means that they are lustrous or shiny in appearance, and malleable, meaning that they can be molded into different shapes without breaking. They are excellent conductors of heat and electricity, and tend to form positive ions by losing electrons. Generally speaking, metals are hard, though a few of the transition metals-as well as members of other metal families-are so soft they can be cut with a knife. Like almost all metals, they tend to have fairly high melting points, and extremely high boiling points. Many of the transition metals, particularly those on periods 4, 5, and 6, form useful alloys-mixtures containing more than one metal-with one another, and with other elements. Because of their differences in electron configuration, however, they do not always combine in the same ways, even within an element. Iron, for instance, sometimes releases two electrons in chemical bonding, and at other times three. ABUNDANCE OF THE TRANSITION METALS: Iron is the fourth most abundant element on Earth, accounting for 4.71% of the elemental mass in the planets crust. Titanium ranks 10th, with 0.58%, and manganese 13th, with 0.09%. Several other transition metals are comparatively abundant: even gold is much more abundant than many other elements on the periodic table. However, given the fact that only 18 elements account for 99.51% of Earths crust, the percentages for elements outside of the top 18 tend to very small. In the human body, iron is the 12th most abundant element, constituting 0.004% of the bodys mass. Zinc follows it, at 13th place, accounting for 0.003%. Again, these percentages may not seem particularly high, but in view of the fact that three elements-oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen-account for 93% of human elemental body mass, there is not much room for the other 10 most common elements in the body. Transition metals such as copper are present in trace quantities within the body as well. (industrial effulent) DIVIDING THE TRANSITION METALS INTO GROUPS. There is no easy way to group the transition metals, though certain of these elements are traditionally categorized together. These do not constitute families as such, but they do provide useful ways to break down the otherwise rather daunting 40-element lineup of the transition metals. In two cases, there is at least a relation between group number on the periodic table and the categories loosely assigned to a collection of transition metals. Thus the coinage metals-copper, silver, and gold-all occupy Group 9 on the periodic table. These have traditionally been associated with one another because their resistance to oxidation, combined with their malleability and beauty, has made them useful materials for fashioning coins. Likewise the members of the zinc group-zinc, cadmium, and mercury-occupy Group 10 on the periodic table. These, too, have often been associated as a miniature unit due to common properties. Members of the platinum group-platinum, iridium, osmium, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium-occupy a rectangle on the table, corresponding to periods 5 and 6, and groups 6 through 8. What actually makes them a group, however, is the fact that they tend to appear together in nature. Iron, nickel, and cobalt, found alongside one another on Period 4, may be grouped together because they are all magnetic to some degree or another. This is far from the only notable characteristic about such metals, but provides a convenient means of further dividing the transition metals into smaller sections. To the left of iron on the periodic table is a rectangle corresponding to periods 4 through 6, groups 4 through 7. These 11 elements-titanium, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, manganese, and rhenium-are referred to here as alloy metals. This is not a traditional designation, but it is nonetheless useful for describing these metals, most of which form important alloys with iron and other elements. One element was left out of the rectangle described in the preceding paragraph. This is technetium, which apparently does not occur in nature. It is lumped in with a final category, rare and artificial elements. It should be stressed that there is nothing hard and fast about these categories. The alloy metals are not the only ones that form alloys; nickel is used in coins, though it is not called a coinage metal; and platinum could be listed with gold and silver as precious metals. Nonetheless, the categories used here seem to provide the most workable means of approaching the many transition metals. GOLD. Gold almost needs no introduction: virtually everyone knows of its value, and history is full of stories about people who killed or died for this precious metal. Part of its value springs from its rarity in comparison to, say iron: gold is present on Earths crust at a level of about 5 parts per billion (ppb). Yet as noted earlier, it is more abundant than some metals. Furthermore, due to the fact that it is highly unreactive (reactivity refers to the tendency for bonds between atoms or molecules to be made or broken in such a way that materials are transformed), it tends to be easily separated from other elements. This helps to explain the fact that gold may well have been the first element ever discovered. No ancient metallurgist needed a laboratory in which to separate gold; indeed, because it so often keeps to itself, it is called a noble metal-meaning, in this context, set apart. Another characteristic of gold that made it valuable was its great malleability. In fact, gold is the most malleable of all metals: A single troy ounce (31.1 g) can be hammered into a sheet just 0.00025 in (0.00064 cm) thick, covering 68 ft  2  (6.3 m  2  ). Gold is one of the few metals that is not silver, gray, or white, and its beautifully distinctive color caught the eyes of metalsmiths and royalty from the beginning of civilization. Records from India dating back to 5000  B.C.  suggest a familiarity with gold, and jewelry found in Egyptian tombs indicates the use of sophisticated techniques among the goldsmiths of Egypt as early as 2600  B.C.  Likewise the Bible mentions gold in several passages. The Romans called it  aurum  (shining dawn), which explains its chemical symbol, Au. Gold is as popular as ever for jewelry and other decorative objects, of course, but for the most part, it is too soft to have many other commercial purposes. One of the few applications for gold, a good conductor of electricity, is in some electronic components. Also, the radioactive gold-198 isotope is sometimes implanted in tissues as a means of treating forms of cancer. SILVER. Like gold, silver has been a part of human life from earliest history. Usually it is considered less valuable, though some societies have actually placed a higher value on silver because it is harder and more durable than gold. In the seventh century  B.C.  , the Lydian civilization of Asia Minor (now Turkey) created the first coins using silver, and in the sixth century  B.C.  , the Chinese began making silver coins. Succeeding dynasties in China continued to mint these coins, round with square holes in them, until the early twentieth century. The Romans called silver  argentum,  and therefore today its chemical symbol is Ag. Its uses are much more varied than those of gold, both because of its durability and the fact that it is less expensive. Alloyed with copper, which adds strength to it, it makes sterling silver, used in coins, silverware, and jewelry. Silver nitrate compounds are used in silver plating, applied in mirrors and tableware. (Most mirrors today, however, use aluminum.) A large portion of the worlds silver supply is used by photographers for developing pictures. In addition, because it is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, silver has applications in the electronics industry; however, its expense has led many manufacturers to use copper or aluminum instead. Silver is also present, along with zinc and cadmium, in cadmium batteries. Like gold, though to a much lesser extent, it is still an important jewelry-making component. COPPER. Most people think of pennies as containing copper, but in fact the penny is the only American coin that contains no copper alloys. Because the amount of copper necessary to make a penny today costs more than $0.01, a penny is actually made of zinc with a thin copper coating. Yet copper has long been a commonly used coinage metal, and long before that, humans used it for other purposes. Seven thousand years ago, the peoples of the Tigris-Euphrates river valleys, in what is now Iraq, were mining and using copper, and later civilizations combined copper with zinc to make bronze. Indeed, the history of prehistoric and ancient humans technological development is often divided according to the tools they made, the latter two of which came from transition metals: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age (c. 3300-1200  B.C.  ), and the Iron Age. Copper is also like its two close relatives in that it resists corrosion, and this makes it ideal for plumbing. Its use in making coins resulted from its anti-corrosive qualities, combined with its beauty: like gold, copper has a distinctive color. This aesthetic quality led to the use of copper in decorative applications as well: many old buildings used copper roofs, and the Statue of Liberty is covered in 300 thick copper plates. Why, then, is the famous statue not copper-colored? Because copper does eventually corrode when exposed to air for long periods of time. Over time, it develops a thin layer of black copper oxide, and as the years pass, carbon dioxide in the air leads to the formation of copper carbonate, which imparts a greenish color. The human body is about 0.0004% copper, though as noted, larger quantities of copper can be toxic. Copper is found in foods such as shell-fish, nuts, raisins, and dried beans. Whereas human blood has hemoglobin, a molecule with an iron atom at the center, the blood of lobsters and other large crustaceans contains hemocyanin, in which copper performs a similar function. ZINC. Together with copper, zinc appeared in another alloy that, like bronze, helped define the ancient world: brass. (The latter is mentioned in the Bible, for instance in the Book of Daniel,when King Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a statue containing brass and other substances, symbolizing various empires.) Used at least from the first millennium  B.C.  onward, brass appeared in coins and ornaments throughout Asia Minor. Though it is said that the Chinese purified zinc in about  A.D.  1000, the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus (1493-1541) is usually credited with first describing zinc as a metal. Bluish-white, with a lustrous sheen, zinc is found primarily in the ore sulfide sphalerite. The largest natural deposits of zinc are in Australia and the United States, and after mining, the metal is subjected to a purification and reduction process involving carbon. Zinc is used in galvanized steel, developed in the eighteenth century by Italian physicist Luigi Galvani (1737-1798). CADMIUM. In 1817, German chemist Friedrich Strohmeyer (1776-1835) was working as an inspector of pharmacies for the German state of Hanover. While making his rounds, he discovered that one pharmacy had a sample of zinc carbonate labeled as zinc oxide, and while inspecting the chemical in his laboratory, he discovered something unusual. If indeed it were zinc carbonate, it should turn into zinc oxide when heated, and since both compounds were white, there should be no difference in color. Instead, the mysterious compound turned a yellowish-orange. Strohmeyer continued to analyze the sample, and eventually realized that he had discovered a new element, which he named after the old Greek term for zinc carbonate,  kadmeia.  Indeed, cadmium typically appears in nature along with zinc or zinc compounds. Silvery white and lustrous or shiny, cadmium is soft enough to be cut with a knife, but chemically it behaves much like zinc: hence the idea of a zinc group. MERCURY. One of only two elements-along with bromine-that appears in liquid form at room temperature, mercury is both toxic and highly useful. The Romans called it  hydragyrum  (liquid silver), from whence comes its chemical symbol, Hg. Today, however, it is known by the name of the Romans god Mercury, the nimble and speedy messenger of the gods. Mercury comes primarily from a red ore called cinnabar, and since it often appears in shiny globules that form outcroppings from the cinnabar, it was relatively easy to discover. Several things are distinctive about mercury, including its bright silvery color. But nothing distinguishes it as much as its physical properties-not only its liquidity, but the fact that it rolls rapidly, like the fleet-footed god after which it is named. Its surface tension (the quality that causes it to bead) is six times greater than that of water, and for this reason, mercury never wets the surfaces with which it comes in contact. Mercury, of course, is widely used in thermometers, an application for which it is extremely well-suited. In particular, it expands at a uniform rate when heated, and thus a mercury thermometer (unlike earlier instruments, which used water, wine, or alcohol) can be easily calibrated. (Note that due to the toxicity of the element, mercury thermometers in schools are being replaced by other types of thermometers.) At temperatures close to absolute zero, mercury loses its resistance to the flow of electric current, and therefore it presents a promising area of research with regard to superconductivity. IRON. In its purest form, iron is relatively soft and slightly magnetic, but when hardened, it becomes much more so. As with several of the elements discovered long ago, iron has a chemical symbol (Fe) reflecting an ancient name, the Latin  ferrum.  But long before the Romans ancestors arrived in Italy, the Hittites of Asia Minor were purifying iron ore by heating it with charcoal over a hot flame. The ways in which iron is used are almost too obvious (and too numerous) to mention. If iron and steel suddenly ceased to exist, there could be no skyscrapers, no wide-span bridges, no ocean liners or trains or heavy machinery or automobile frames. Furthermore, alloys of steel with other transition metals, such as tungsten and niobium, possess exceptionally great strength, and find application in everything from hand tools to nuclear reactors. Then, of course, there are magnets and electromagnets, which can only be made of iron and/or one of the other magnetic elements, cobalt and nickel. In the human body, iron is a key part of hemoglobin, the molecule in blood that transports oxygen from the lungs to the cells. If a person fails to get sufficient quantities of iron-present in foods such as red meat and spinach-the result is anemia, characterized by a loss of skin color, weakness, fainting, and heart palpitations. Plants, too, need iron, and without the appropriate amounts are likely to lose their color, weaken, and die. COBALT. Isolated in about 1735 by Swedish chemist Georg Brandt (1694-1768), cobalt was the first metal discovered since prehistoric, or at least ancient, times. The name comes from  Kobald,  German for underground gnome, and this reflects much about the early history of cobalt. In legend, the Kobalden were mischievous sprites who caused trouble for miners, and in real life, ores containing the element that came to be known as cobalt likewise caused trouble to men working in mines. Not only did these ores contain arsenic, which made miners ill, but because cobalt had no apparent value, it only interfered with their work of extracting other minerals. Yet cobalt had been in use by artisans long before Brandts isolated the element. The color of certain cobalt compounds is a brilliant, shocking blue, and this made it popular for the coloring of pottery, glass, and tile. The element, which makes up less than 0.002% of Earths crust, is found today primarily in ores extracted from mines in Canada, Zaire, and Morocco. One of the most important uses of cobalt is in a highly magnetic alloy known as alnico, which also contains iron, nickel, and aluminum. Combined with tungsten and chromium, cobalt makes stellite, a very hard alloy used in drill bits. Cobalt is also applied in jet engines and turbines. NICKEL. Moderately magnetic in its pure form, nickel had an early history much like that of cobalt. English workers mining copper were often dismayed to find a metal that looked like copper, but was not, and they called it Old Nicks copper-meaning that it was a trick played on them by Old Nick, or the devil. The Germans gave it a similar name:  Kupfernickel,  or imp copper. Though nickel was not identified as a separate metal by Swedish mineralogist Axel Fredrik Cronstedt (1722-1765) until the eighteenth century, alloys of copper, silver, and nickel had been used as coins even in ancient Egypt. Today, nickel is applied, not surprisingly, in the American five-cent piece-that is, the nickel-made from an alloy of nickel and copper. Its anti-corrosive nature also provides a number of other applications for nickel: alloyed with steel, for instance, it makes a protective layer for other metals. PLATINUM. First identified by an Italian physician visiting the New World in the mid-sixteenth century, platinum-now recognized as a precious metal-was once considered a nuisance in the same way that nickel and cadmium were. Miners, annoyed with the fact that it got in the way when they were looking for gold, called it  platina,  or little silver. One of the reasons why platinum did not immediately catch the worlds fancy is because it is difficult to extract, and typically appears with the other metals of the platinum group: iridium, osmium, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium. Only in 1803 did English physician and chemist William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828) develop a means of extracting platinum, and when he did, he discovered that the metal could be hammered into all kinds of shapes. Platinum proved such a success that it made Wollaston financially independent, and he retired from his medical practice at age 34 to pursue scientific research. Today, platinum is used in everything from thermometers to parts for rocket engines, both of which take advantage of its ability to with stand high temperatures. 6. Application of transition metals complex formation in gas chromatography. we will be discusing applications of superselective liquid phases containing transition metal salts or complexes in gas chromatography Introduction: Metal complexation may be used for four purposes in gas chromatography: to help the separation of certain compounds present in the sample. In this case complexation is performed by using a stationary phase containing a metal; to utilize GC for the calculation of stability constants orother physico-chemical data; to analyse the metals themselves, by making organic volatile complexes and analysing them by GC; to increase sensitivity for inorganic and organic compounds by forming metal complexes and utilize e.g. an electron capture detector which has an increased sensitivity for such compounds. The present review discusses only the first two of these four application fields. The effect of the formation of eleetron-donor-acceptor complexes (EDA) [1-3] of transition metal cations with organic molecules containing n-bond(s) or free electron pairs (hi, O, S, halogens) may be used for the gas chromatographic separation of these molecules. The column packings containing the transition metals may be termed as superselectivepackings, because a slight difference in the structure of the separated compounds (e.g. cis- and transisomers) can give considerable difference in the retention time representing several minutes The reaction of complex formation should be rapid and reversible In the case of a 1:1 complex formation gas chromatography is convenient for the determination the stability constants of the newly formed adducts The formation of n-complexes with cations of the transition metals is particulary widely applied in gas chromatography. The termal stability of these complexes changes i~ a very broad temperature range depending on the metal and the ligand.complexes together with the temperatures of their chromatographic analysis. As seen chromatography permits as to examine the~ systems at temperatures higher than their thermal stability determined by static methods. The superselective packings can be divided into two group~ 1. Superselective liquid phases in which a salt or met~complex is melted or dissolved in a common liquid phase. 2. Superselective adsorbents in which a transition metal exists in various forms such as a salt or other co~pounds coated on the surface of a support, a porous i~ organic salt, a zeolite with the transition metal cation~ an inorganic oxide, or an inorganic or organometall~polymer. Steric Effect Substitution of bulky alkyl groups at a carbon double bond decrease the stability constants of n-complexes. The steric effect depends on the position of substitution in the following order: 2 > 4/> 3 > 5 >~ 6 [9, 78]. The small steric effect of the substituent in position 3 can be explained by considerable participation of electronic effect which, for alkyl groups has the opposite influence on stability constants than the steric effect. Electronic Effect The choice of the substituents at the double bond can increase or decrease the stability of the complex according to their electronic nature. For example, the substitution of D for H at the double bond increases the stability of the 7rcomplexes and for Rh 2* even bulk substituents increase the stability of complexes formed. This was called an inverse steric effect The electron-withdrawing effect of C1 on the electrons an aromatic ring causes a decrease in the stability constant of the n-complex of a transition metal with chlorobenzene as compared to the same complex with ethylbenzene Strain Effect:- Due to the large strain of the cyclobutene ring its ~r-complexes are less stable than those with five- and six-membered cycloolefms The Hg 2+ cation forms very strong complexes with olef~ and aromatic hydrocarbons. This is the reason why it applied for the selective retention of such compounds fr0~ hydrocarbon mixtures The stability constants of Hg ~+ complexes with molecules of organic compounds containing oxygen have been

Free Hamlet Essays - Hamlet as a Love Story :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Hamlet as a Love Story    The part of Hamlet that I would like to discuss is the love story theme. I think that it is very romantic how even in today's society we do not view the other aspects of Hamlet like revenge, delay, and madness but view Hamlet as a love story. I like the part of the love story when Hamlet writes that letter to Ophelia. The poem that Hamlet wrote to Ophelia, "'Doubt thou the stars are fire, doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt our love."' I really like this quote because it is very romantic. -Marka Jones The aspect of Hamlet that I find interesting is the appearance of the ghost that Hamlet suspects may be the ghost of his father. Hamlet does not know if the ghost is actually of his father or if it is a demon taking on his father's appearance. How will he know what decision to make if he does not know what the ghost actually is? Also, now I'm wondering if Hamlet makes the wrong decision, will his decision lead to his death? This is the second play of Shakespeare's that I have read that has the appearance of ghosts. Macbeth also had apparitions appear in it. Shakespeare seems to have a method of placing ghosts into his writings, and in Macbeth these ghosts led to the downfall of Macbeth. -Keisha McWhorter "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." "antic disposition." Hamlet states this after he discovers Claudius killed his father. If indeed Hamlet was mad, the fact that Claudius killed his father could have been a cause; however it seems that by the second quote he decided to pretend he is crazy. I do not think that the death of his father drove him mad. -Matthew Kilgore Act 1, Scene 2, Line 66 KING. How is it that the clouds still hang on you? HAM. Not so, my lord. I am too much in the sun. QUEEN. Good Hamlet. Cast thy nighted color off, And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. Do not for ever with thy vailed lids Seek for thy noble father in the dust. Thou know'st 'tis common - all that lives must die, Passing through nature to eternity. In the above conversation the Queen and the King both feel Hamlet meant what he said.

Investment Behaviour of Women Essay

Abstract Through an analysis of recent reforms in three policy areas in Chile—pensions, childcare services, and maternity/parental leave—the paper seeks to explore how equity-oriented reforms deal with the triple legacy of maternalism, male-breadwinner bias, and market reform. Recent studies of â€Å"new† social policies in Latin America have underlined the persistent strength of maternalist assumptions. Feminist research on new cash transfer programs, in particular, has tended to see more continuity than change in the gendered underpinnings of social policy. This paper suggests that once we broaden our ï ¬ eld of vision to include other social programs and reforms, the ways in which contemporary social policy (re)deï ¬ nes women’s productive and reproductive roles, social rights, and obligations are more complex and contradictory. Indeed, while some policies take unpaid care by women for granted, others point to an increasing awareness of inequalities   Staa b that shape women’s and men’s differential access to market income and public social beneï ¬ ts. Over the last decade, there has been a veritable explosion of scholarship on Latin American social policy. In part this reï ¬â€šects the fact that—after decades of neglect—Latin American states have rediscovered social policy and scaled up their efforts to address the social fallout of liberalization. Indeed, while â€Å"Washington Consensus† reforms were mainly driven by the desire to cut costs and reduce the scope of the state, the late 1990s and 2000s have seen more coordinated state interventions to reduce poverty, inequality, and social exclusion. While not returning to post-war social protection schemes, countries in the region are experimenting with policies that break with the neoliberal notion of minimal safety nets (Barrientos et al. 2008; Molyneux 2008; Cortes 2009).  ´ What does this â€Å"return of the state† mean for women’s social rights and welfare? It has been argued that in contrast to the gender blindness of neoliberal reforms, â€Å"new† social policies have been gender conscious (Bedford 2007). However, relatively little systematic research has been carried out on the gender dynamics of this new social agenda (Macdonald and Ruckert 2009). The existing literature seems to suggest that there is far more continuity than change in the gendered underpinnings of â€Å"new† social protection programs. Feminist research on conditional cash transfers (CCTs)—a key innovation associated with Post-Washington Consensus social policy in the region—has tended to stress the persistence of maternalism (e.g., Molyneux 2007; Bradshaw 2008; Tabbush 2009), a set of ideas and practices with a long and ambiguous history in the region. Yet there is more to Post-Washington Consensus social policy than CCTs. Several Latin American countries are experimenting with other care-related policies alongside cash transfer schemes— including the introduction of full-day schooling, the expansion of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, maternity/ parental leave reforms, and in recent pension reforms, the introduction of child-rearing credits. While some of these programs take the unpaid care by women for granted , others point to an increasing awareness of gender inequalities that shape women’s and men’s differential access to labor market income and public social beneï ¬ ts. That these initiatives have received little scholarly attention leaves the impression that Latin American social policy is stuck on a maternalist track, when national and regional trends are likely to be more varied and complex. Against this broader backdrop, the main aim of the paper  is to provide a better understanding of the complex and contradictory  ways in which women’s productive and reproductive roles, social rights, and obligations are constructed and (re)deï ¬ ned in the context of recent equity-oriented reforms. I argue for a two-tiered approach. First, I propose to move beyond single policy analysis towards a more systemic view that takes into account and compares developments across sectors. Second, I aim to assess these reforms according to the ways in which they have dealt with three key legacies: marketization, maternalism, and male-breadwinner bias. I apply this approach to the recent reforms in Chilean social policy, a particularly intriguing case. First, Chile is often cited as the Latin American country where neoliberal principles have been most comprehensively applied. Its 1980s social sector reforms–particularly in pensions and health–have long been promoted by international ï ¬ nancial institutions as a model for other countries to emulate (Taylor 2003; Orenstein 2005). Recent innovations in Chile’s social policy regime thus merit close attention. Second, Chile combines market liberalism with strong social conservatism, particularly with regards to gender roles. We would expect these two legacies to create mounting tensions and contradictions –for example over whether mothers should be at home (maternalism) or in the market (liberalism)–that social and employment policies have to navigate. I have chosen to focus on the recent reforms in pension, ECEC, and parental leave policies, issues which have been high up the public agenda in Chile and elsewhere. This is reï ¬â€šective of both broader global discourses spearheaded by international organizations such as the World Bank and the OECD, as well as a regional trend to revising social protection frameworks with an emphasis on increasing the coverage of hitherto excluded groups.1 The selection thus consciously combines two more traditional policy areas associated with social protection/consumption (pensions and maternity leave), with an emerging area geared towards social investment (ECEC). While the former were directly undermined by structural adjustment and deliberately restructured following the advice of international ï ¬ nancial institutions (Orenstein 2005; Brooks 2009), the latter have acquired prominence over the past decades as a means of reducing poverty by facilitating women’s labor force participation and as a cost-efï ¬ cient tool to promote human capital development by investing in early childhood development. These ideas form part of an emerging global paradigm (Jenson and Saint-Martin 2003; Jenson 2010; Mahon 2010) and seem to have ï ¬ ltered down to the national level with several Latin American countries experimenting with childcare-related reforms.2 The combinat ion of protection and promotion implicit in this selection is also highly relevant from a gender perspective. While childcare services and parental leaves can facilitate women’s engagement in paid employment, pension systems can be designed in ways that translate labor market inequalities into unequal entitlements in old age. They thus represent two sides of the same problem, namely the extent to which the gender division of labor affects women’s and men’s differential access to income and social security. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. The next section brieï ¬â€šy illustrates the rationale for choosing marketization, maternalism, and male-breadwinner bias as key dimensions for assessing continuity and change. It takes a historical and  regional perspective to show how they became embedded in Latin American systems of social provision. The second half of the paper then provides a detailed analysis of recent reforms in Chilean pension, childcare, and maternity leave policies. The ï ¬ nal section draws out some comparative conclusions about the extent to which the recent reforms have dealt with the key legacies of marketization, maternalism, and male-breadwinner bias. Maternalism, Male-Breadwinner Bias, and Market Reform  Trajectories of welfare state formation and change in Latin America are in many ways different from those of advanced economies in Europe or North America that have formed the basis for theory building. The most important difference is probably the dynamism and radicalism with which development strategies have been recast over the last century (Sheahan 2002, 4). Thus, many countries moved from state-led import-substituting industrialization (ISI) in the post-war period to the rather radical application of neoliberal prescriptions following the recessions and debt crises of the late 1970s and early 1980s. These transitions left distinct legacies in systems of social provision. From the often incomplete formation of welfare institutions in the post-war era, governments in the region turned to retrenchment, deregulation, and privatization. Redistributive and universalist aspirations—however exclusionary or stratifying these had been in practice (Filgueira and Filgueira 2002)—were buried with the shift to market-led development and the region moved closer towards liberal-informal welfare regimes (Barrientos 2004). As the state was scaled back, reforms empowered business interests which became directly involved in education, health, and pension systems.3 Gender roles and norms as well as pervasive gender inequalities across states, markets, and households mediate women’s and men’s exposure to social risks as well as their speciï ¬ c need for social protection and services. Women face particular challenges due to  motherhood and other caring responsibilities that societies largely assign to them (Lewis 1992; O’Connor 1993; Orloff 1993). Yet, these risks and responsibilities have rarely been taken into account in the design of social policies. Thus, Bismarck-style social insurance systems, such as those founded across Latin American countries in the post-war period, had an inherent male-breadwinner bias.4 Women, in turn, tended to access social beneï ¬ ts as wives of a male breadwinner or as mothers whose maternal functions had to be safeguarded and protected (Gimenez 2005). Motherhood became the  ´ very basis on which women staked their claims to citizenship rights and states deployed their efforts to mobilize female constituencies. At the heart of this â€Å"civic maternalism† was the belief that women– and in particular their biological and social function as mothers– had to be recognized, valued, and protected (Molyneux 2000).5 This was, in Nancy Folbre’s words, the â€Å"patriarchal trunk† onto which market reform was grafted, but which â€Å"continues to inï ¬â€šuence the shape of the tree† (Interviewed by Razavi 2011). A large body of literature has documented how struc tural adjustment increased the overall burden on women. Thus, where privatization and trade liberalization triggered a rise in male unemployment, women were pushed into (largely informal) paid employment to make up for lost wages. Meanwhile, retrenchment and commercialization of social services shifted more responsibilities for social provision to the domestic sphere, where the prevailing gender division of labor meant that women spent more time on unpaid reproductive work (BenerÄ ±a and Feldman 1992; Sparr 1994; and Elson 1995). In  ´ social protection systems, the move from risk sharing to individualization exacerbated already existing gender inequalities. By tightening the relationship between contributory patterns and pension beneï ¬ ts, market reforms effectively deepened male-breadwinner bias (Dion 2008). In health, private insurance companies were given plenty of rope for deï ¬ ning premiums based on gender-speciï ¬ c â€Å"risks†, such as pregnancy (Gideon 2006). As a result, the costs of biological and social repr oduction were further individualized and passed on to women. Paradoxically, maternalism remained a strong theme in the neoliberal era, at least at the level of public discourse (Molyneux 2000). In short, market reforms layered new gender inequalities onto the already existing legacies of maternalism and male-breadwinner bias. As a result, conservative elements exist alongside (neo)liberal elements in the contemporary welfare architecture of many Latin American countries. How are these legacies challenged or compounded by the current wave of policy innovations and reform? If the state is indeed assuming greater responsibility for social  provision, does this trend provide a more favorable context for redressing gender inequalities? More particularly, does it reï ¬â€šect a greater recognition and redistribution of the responsibilities for and costs of care and social reproduction? The existing literature suggests that there is far more continuity than change in gendered assumptions even as new social programs are being rolled out: Recent studies have argued, for example, that new social programs have paid scant, if any, attention to the underlying structures of gender inequality in labor markets and households (Razavi 2007); that economic and social policies continue to place the burden of social reproduction on families (read: women); that the particular design of social programs tends to reinforce traditional gender roles without providing long-term strategies for women’s economic security through job training or childcare provision (Molyneux 2007; Tabbush 2009); and that new social policies increase social control and surveillance of mothers’ child-rearing behavior and performance (Luccisano and Wall 2009). Feminist research on CCTs, in particular, has tended to stress the persistence of maternalist orientations (e.g., Molyneux 2007; Bradshaw 2008; Tabbush 2009). This literature has been central for understanding the gendered nature of â€Å"new† social policies in the region and much remains to be learned about the actual diversity of  ´ these programs (MartÄ ±nez Franzoni and Voorend 2009) and their impact on women from different ethnic groups (Hernandez 2011;  ´ Rivera 2011). Analytically, however, the focus on a single scheme is insufï ¬ cient to assess the processes through which women’s productive and reproductive roles, social rights, and obligations are currently being (re)deï ¬ ned. Several Latin American countries are experimenting with other social policies alongside the much-cited CCTs, including the introduction of full-day schooling, the expansion of ECEC services, maternity/parental leave reforms, and the introduction of child-rearing credits in recent pension reforms. In each of these areas, equity-oriented reformers struggle with the legacies of maternalism and male-breadwinner bias, on the one hand, and the (ideological and de-facto) importance of markets, on the other hand. I argue that these struggles shape reform processes and outcomes in ways that are more complex and contradictory than the existing literature on CCTs suggests. The following analysis of Chilean social policy sets out to unravel some of these complexities by looking at the recent reforms in pensions, childcare, and leave regulations. Implicit in this approach is an understanding of the state as a concept that helps to contextualize present political conï ¬â€šicts and policy processes (Hay and Lister 2006). In other words, previously enacted policies, institutional choices, and strategic interactions constitute a â€Å"strategically selective terrain† (Jessop 1990, 203) that structures present political conï ¬â€šict, rendering it more conducive to some  demands than others. While not determining their behavior, the ensemble of institutions and policy frameworks that comprise the state offer opportunities to and impose constraints on, the political agency of those wishing to effect policy change. The three legacies outlined above form part of the institutional landscape of the state. As such, they are shown to play a signiï ¬ cant role in current attempts of reform and policy innovation. While these legacies constitute the main focus of this paper, they are by no means the only factor that shape change and continuity in Chilean social policy. In fact, sector-speciï ¬ c actors, partisan politics, and particular political contingencies come into play to differing degrees. Furthermore, the continuity and deepening of an economic model based on trade openness, macroeconomic stability, monetary, and ï ¬ scal discipline and ï ¬â€šexible employment, forms the backdrop against which more expansive social policies have emerged as a response to persistent inequality. However, the full meaning of recent reforms cannot be understood without taking into account the gender-speciï ¬ c legacies in each sector.  (En)gendering Change and Continuity: Recent reforms in Chile Chile is a particularly intriguing case for analyzing continuity and change in social policy. On the one hand, it is often portrayed as the country where neoliberal principles have most profoundly transformed economic, social, and political institutions (Kurtz 1999; Filgueira and Filgueira 2002). While radical market reforms were carried out under the aegis of a military dictatorship (1973–1989), many of the model’s features were maintained with the return to democracy. Consequently, the country’s policy framework is often represented as particularly resistant to equity-oriented change. On the other hand, Chile combines market liberalism with social conservatism—two features that conventional welfare regime analysis tends to locate in different clusters (the conservative and the liberal variant, respectively). Female labor force participation is among the lowest in the region (ECLAC 2008), the country’s welfare regime has been described as inherently â€Å"gender biased† (Pribble 2006, 86), and conservative social norms  regarding women’s role in the family loom large (Contreras and Plaza 2010).6 Despite this rather unfavorable context, recent reforms suggest that these frameworks are not carved in stone. Since the early 2000 s efforts to expand social protection, to improve access to and quality  of social services and to strengthen social rights have featured prominently on the country’s social agenda, leading some to argue that Chile may be approaching a â€Å"point of inï ¬â€šection† (Illanes and Riesco 2007, 406). The following sections shed light on the complex and contradictory ways in which the triple legacy of maternalism, male-breadwinner bias, and market reform is addressed by recent reforms in pensions (adopted in 2008), childcare services (signiï ¬ cantly expanded since 2006), and maternity leave (reformed in 2011). Before delving more deeply into the developments in each sector, it is necessary to brieï ¬â€šy describe the broader economic and political context since the country’s return to democracy in 1990. Context of Recent Reforms and Policy Innovations The return to democracy did not entail a drastic transformation of the institutional foundations of economic and social policy inherited from the military regime (Moulian 2002; Taylor 2003; Borzutzky 2010). In fact, in macroeconomic terms the center-left party coalition Concertacion that governed the country from 1990  ´ to 2010 validated and deepened the neoliberal model based on trade openness, macroeconomic stability, monetary and ï ¬ scal discipline and ï ¬â€šexible employment. To offset some of its worst effects, social spending increased steadily which, together with economic growth and employment creation, dramatically reduced absolute poverty from 38.6 percent in 1990 to 13.7 percent in 2006 (ECLAC 2008), although it did relatively little to improve income distribution or lessen social inequalities and fragmentation in education, health, and social protection (Solimano 2009). Explanations for this continuity are manifold, including the formidable constraints placed on  the autonomy of the ï ¬ rst Concertacion governments by authoritarian enclaves in the political  ´ system that granted right-wing political opposition important veto powers; the resistance of business interests whose power increased as a result of market reforms; the weakness of other civil society actors, particularly labor; a political culture eager to avoid the kind of political confrontation that preceded the military coup; and the adoption of market-oriented ideas by key decision makers within the centerleft coalition itself (e.g. Kurtz 2003; Castiglioni 2005; Borzutzky and Weeks 2010; Ewig and Kay 2011). The result of this complex and contradictory process has been described as a Chilean â€Å"Third Way† characterized by an â€Å"unwavering commitment to trade liberalization and privatization despite considerable public opposition† and a â€Å"predisposition to a policy process that discourages participation by civil society and rank-and-ï ¬ le party members, while affording business access to the  highest reaches of government† (Sandbrook et al. 2007, 164–65). This set-up makes some policy areas more amenable to equity-enhancing reforms and innovations than others. As the economic model rests upon a ï ¬â€šexible and restrictive labor regime (Frank 2004), social policy is largely conï ¬ ned to enhancing workers’ ability to compete on the market and to mitigating some of the worst risks that unregulated and precarious employment entails. This goes a long way to explain why the two socialist-led governments of Ricardo Lagos (2000–2006) and Michelle Bachelet (2006–2010) spearheaded health reform, pension reform and childcare service expansion in order to enhance equity, while shying away from reforms related to the country’s labor market where many of the fundamental social inequalities originate. While the  Bachelet administration’s employment policy and labor relations have been described as disappointing, (Lopez 2009;  ´ Sehnbruch 2009), it did turn social protection into a key priority. The concept ual pillars of her strategy included a life-course approach to social protection and the attempt to introduce a rights-based perspective (Hardy 2011). The latter materialized in a gradual lifting of budgetary restrictions on social assistance7 and the progressive relaxation of eligibility requirements for accessing a range of beneï ¬ ts. The life-course approach, in turn, is captured in repeatedly stated commitments to create equal opportunities and protect citizens â€Å"from the cradle to old age†. Tellingly, its translation into policy focused on the two extremes of the life course, namely the reform of the pension system and Chile Crece Contigo, an integrated early childhood protection system that included the massive expansion of childcare services. The working-age population remained caught in the middle with persistently low employment quality, including a high level of job instability and the limited reach of employment-based rights and beneï ¬ ts, a scenario that disproportionately affects women workers (Sehnbruch 2009). 8 Thus, the attempt to square greater equity and social inclusion with an open economy inï ¬â€šuenced the scope and locus of policy change during the Bachelet administration. While acquiring greater visibility, social protection remained subordinate to macroeconomic goals, including those related to employment, understood as not interfering with job creation through greater regulation and rights for workers. In this context, it is particularly surprising that a highly controversial employment-related reform was introduced under the new right-wing government of Sebastian Pinera (2010) which, in ËÅ"  ´ 2011, expanded (women) workers’ rights through a reform of maternity leave regulations.

Fast Food Culture Essay

People eat fast food when they don’t have enough time to afford themselves a fine delicious meal due to busy work or study. Fast food keeps them from the trouble of cooking and saves them large amount of time. Along with the development of economy, people of the 21st century are entering an era of fast rhythm called â€Å"fast food era†. The name â€Å"fast food era† is derived from the term â€Å"fast food†, describing a time in which pace and efficiency are excessively highly emphasized. Fast food not only represent less time to eat, but also refers the world are rush that people lose patiences to look clearly of themselves who consumed too many stuff, however they didn’t really satisfy. Fast food culture is now extending to all aspects of modern life. Once there was a survey indicating that in South Korea, nearly a half of office staff set speed as one of the important standards in work. They enjoyed the pleasure of fast working while could barely putting up with â€Å"Mr. Slow†. Besides working area, fast food culture can be also found in the field of knowledge and education. On the sales ranking lists of online bookstores like Amazon and kindle, books with the striking names as â€Å"how to †¦..† can be easily found. These books teach readers the crash courses to master a skill after thumping through dozens of pages. Classics are compressed into thin books or movies. People can digest a classic even within two or three hours which in the past, could never be possible. Stunningly still, â€Å"fast food culture† is penetrating into the sacred turf of love and marriage. Speed dating is rather popular in china nowadays. Recent years has witnessed the springing up of matchmaking programs in china like â€Å"If You Are the One†, â€Å"Take Me out† and so on. On these programs, a young man and a young lady both know nothing about each other before the TV programs start care quickly matched within 20 minutes on spot. Many young people get married after meeting each other for several weeks or even a few days. This phenomenon is called â€Å"flash marriage† or â€Å"lightning marriage†. A survey released by Virgin Media aiming at 1,968 adults from England examined their speed at eating, spending money and having sex. The result revealed that scores of them are bolting down their evening meal in less than ten minutes. Others are hurrying through love-making in just two minutes. Workers are also frittering their monthly wages well before their next payday. Psychologist Honey Langcaster-James said â€Å"we are now living at a â€Å"crazy pace†Ã¢â‚¬ . The question is, are we really happy about this fast-paced, constantly changing world? Do we really enjoy life in itself? China’s urban quality of life index report issued by the Chinese Academy of Economy and the Capital Economy and Trade University reveals the life quality indexes of 30 provincial capital cities. The index report indicates that life quality of Beijing is far lower than that of other cities like Guangzhou, Nanjing, Yinchuan, although the pace of life in Beijing ranks the first. Dwellers in Beijing feel less happy but much more stressed than those in other capital cities. Thus, we may reach the conclusion that fast-paced life and the pure pursuit of material wealth can not bring us real happiness. But what makes us unhappy and how to find the key to happiness? Philosophy provides us the answer. â€Å"The unexamined life is not worth living.† â‘  the famous philosopher of ancient Greece Socrates once said. He believed man should reflect on himself with a critical attitude. Without self-reflection, life can not be regarded as complete. People living in modern society are deprived of the time to contemplate themselves and many other things. They race through life at a breakneck speed, without being able to appreciate the beauty of life itself. This is why they easily lose their mind in the fast changing world and feel unhappy or depressed under many circumstances. â€Å" Be as you wish to see† â‘ ¡ â€Å"Know thyself.† â€Å"Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.† â€Å"The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.†Ã¢â€˜ ¢ Socrates then gave us the solution. He told us we should get to know ourselves, know who we really are and what we really want. This would help us in our pursuit of real happiness without being striving for the wrong thing. Socrates also enlightened us that we should hold a dialectical attitude towards man’s seeking for material wealth. We human beings have unlimited want in material, which is something we are born with. However, too much desire for material wealth may bring us anxiety and worry. Liu An, a famous figure of imperial linage of the Western Han Dynasty, wrote in the masterpiece Huai Nan Zi, â€Å"trouble comes from excessive desire†. â‘ £ So we should allow ourselves to seek for material fortune properly in order to satisfy our needs, but we shouldn’t let this want for material wealth turn into a crazy avarice. Thus we need to control our desire and also understand the secret of happiness, namely â€Å"happiness does not lie in seeking more, but in developing the capability to enjoy less.† Ancient Chinese political theorists Mencius happened to hold the same belief. He once said â€Å"there’s no greater idea than abnegating one’s desire to keep inner peace.† â‘ ¤ The remarkable emperor of the ancient Rome Marcus Aurelius, who was also a great philosopher, wrote a book named the Meditations. This book is the production of his deep contemplation on human life which gives us a lot of sagacious advice about life. â€Å"After all, there should be some leisure in life†, Marcus Aurelius wrote in his book.â‘ ¥ Nowadays, people live in bustling cities, busying working and studying. While in the deep of their minds, seldom are there any people know what they really want. Most of them care much about gains and losses, fame and fortune, which makes them live very tired everyday. They should have time to reflect on their behaviors and moral ethic, adjust themselves before stepping into the next phase of life. Most people are suffering agonies in their life. The agonies, Marcus Aurelius thought, come from their discontent of power, money and fame. Their endless desire for power, fame and money lies on their shoulders like a piece of heavy stone. What they should do is to alleviate the burdens, stop being obsessed by fame and fortune and keep inner peace. Only by doing this, can people remove worries and live happily. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way. So stop hurrying to seek for fortune and fame. Excessively Fast-paced life only lessens your feelings of happiness and creates the illusion of fear. Slow down your pace, spare your mind some time to contemplate on your behaviors and appreciate the beauty of the world you are living in. drop the electric books, Read a paper book word by word, line by line, page by page, you’ll find the sparkling thoughts of the author, maybe an there will be an emotional resonance between you and the author. Give away fast food; cook a meal with your beloved one. Taste every dish carefully and slowly, you’ll discover the fragrance of food, and you’ll also taste the love of your wife. Slow down your pace when you are traveling, walk into the narrow street that you didn’t even pay attention to and stop for a plain little flower growing on the roadside, you’ll be surprised at the unique beauty of it. That is also a beauty granted by our mother nature. Spend more time with the girl you plan to have a relationship with; you will get to know her better and better. Her merits and shortcomings will be all exposed before you. Then make a decision whether you should stay with her or not. This is much better than a flash marriage after a tree days’ acquaintance and then you already begin to regret for your hasty decision. Life is short. You never know what may happen tomorrow. Thereforeï ¼Å' it is important to enjoy today. Of course, some people will say that’s why it is important to concentrate a lot of things into a day and live a fast-paced life. If then, how would you possibly have time to enjoy all of those experiences? By doing a few things slowly and doing them well, you can savor the experience and get satisfaction in the process. Haste makes waste. We can’t rush through things mechanically like machines do. If we do, we might forget something; we might take shortcuts. By taking our time, we can do a chore carefully, completely, and correctly. If we could made life slow down; see ourselves clearly, we could gain the great connection with ourselves. In the Buddhism, when they wake up; they starts have question for whole day that is what I really want; if I dead tomorrow, what are we going to do. We may regard after we miss the really motion, relationship and even ourselves. We should stop to catch shadow which is the stuff go around our life; we should keep the inner emotion and thought. Civilization starts philosophy and question, people own the thought to create art and the form of universal. Are we go backward with civilization? It seems like we carry a pot of flowers; we lose the flower in the road; but we hold the pot. Quote a famous verse written by Tao Yuanming, the famous writer of the Chinese Eastern Jin Dynasty here,â€Å"neath the Eastern fence My gaze upon the Southern mountain rests; The mountain views are good by day or night, The birds come flying homeward to their nests. A truth in this reflection lies concealed, But I forget how it may be revealed.†. â‘ ¦ People walk around to gather water in a cup. People didn’t know and recognize cup already full, because their heart didn’t full. They thought the cup still empty. Therefore, they keep infuse water into that. It talks about human condition, they have empty mind how could they know something? Do the master of yourself, not the society. Gives up the fast food, let us starts a real life. Citizen 1. Leibowitzï ¼â€ David. 2010. The Ironic Defense of Socrates: Plato’s Apology [M]. Cambridge University Press. 2.†Socrates.† BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2012. 23 October 2012. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/socrates380638.html 3. â€Å"Socrates.† BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2012. 23 October 2012. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/socrates385762.html 4. http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2007-12/14/content_33890507.htm 5. http://baike.baidu.com/view/4886275.htm 6.Marco Aurelius. 2009. Meditation [M]. BiblioLife,LLC. 7. http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4e276d2c0102e4b5.html