Some useful links for Organic Chemistry Preparation.

Here are a few links you might find useful in aiding you in Organic Chemistry.Contributed by Sbholo (sbholo@sify.com)


http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C334F99/default.htm
http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C335W00/default.htm
http://web.pdx.edu/~wamserc/C336S00/default.htm

PS: You might have noticed I have stopped posting here because I have been very busy. After May, an overhaul of this blog is planned to make it more user friendly.

Brand IIT: the people behind the image

IITs have justly been ranked as the top educational institutions in India and Asia. A little known fact is that more than 80 per cent of their products live and work in India. The next stage is to restructure and reinvent IITs so that they can become world-class centres of research.

A FEW days ago, I went to have my passport renewed. After waiting quite a while in a horribly cramped room, I finally entered the PRO's office and presented my application. He immediately informed me that I had filled in outdated forms and followed the wrong instructions and would have to come back later with the correct forms. I was crestfallen and pleaded that I had downloaded the forms from the Ministry's website and could not afford to take too much time away from my work at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

His expression and attitude underwent an immediate transformation. "Sir, please sit down. The website is outdated. It's not our fault. Here are the right forms. We can't afford to waste your time. IITs have done so much for our country." While I was filling in the forms at his desk, he expressed his unhappiness that so many of our students migrate to the United States and do not work for their own country. However, I was out of his office within 15 minutes with all the papers approved.

On my way home, I marvelled at how times have changed. Now brand IIT is recognised all over India and abroad and we can even get preference over others in government offices! However, some myths persist. Everyone believes most of our students go abroad and a majority of them take up management jobs. This is because very few people know the actual output of IITs and the career profiles of our alumni. We are generally known for the difficulty youngsters face in coping with our joint entrance exam (JEE) and the outstanding successes achieved by some of our graduates (B.Tech.) in the U.S.

What most do not know is that B.Tech. graduates constitute less than half the students trained at IITs and that the majority, in fact, are Masters and PhD degree holders. For example, over the years IIT Delhi has trained about 26,000 students of whom only 37 per cent graduated with a B.Tech., 53 per cent at the Masters level, and 10 per cent with PhDs. The profile is similar for all other IITs. It is this stress on postgraduate education that has helped IITs develop their reputation and expertise. It is this aspect that makes them different from other engineering institutions.

In the past few years, IITs have been ranked as the top educational institutions in India and Asia by national and international magazines. However, the only objective ranking of top 500 universities worldwide by research output has been done by Professor Nian Cai Liu and his colleagues at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. In this list, the only institutions to make it from India are the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. So what makes us tick and what do our graduates actually do in life?

Detailed scientific studies of the graduates from IITs Bombay and Madras show that about 35 to 40 per cent of them proceed abroad for higher studies, and about a quarter return to work in India. This means that only about a quarter of our graduates settle abroad. The pattern is roughly similar for all IITs. Now, remember that less than half our products are B. Tech. degree holders and that about 60 per cent are Masters and PhDs. All indicators show that the proportion of our postgraduate students going abroad is less than that of those with bachelors' degrees. Therefore, it seems that the total number of our students settling abroad may be less than a fifth of our total production. In other words, more than 80 per cent of our products live and work in India. These studies also show that those who go abroad represent the whole class profile and not just the toppers. This is quite reassuring.

What do our students do after they leave the IITs? Of those who go abroad, a significant number are in management jobs. Some hold top positions in multinational corporations. But what is very creditable is that almost every engineering department in most major U.S. universities seems to have an IIT graduate on its faculty. A look at the almost 200 students honoured by IITs as their distinguished alumni is instructive. Of these, about half work in India and the rest abroad; and technical researchers and professors constitute a little less than half of the total. Of the researchers honoured, 40 per cent work in India. What is interesting is that almost 70 per cent of the managers honoured work in India and most head technical companies. Of the entrepreneurs honoured, a vast majority of them come from the IT sector and live in the U.S.

What is even more interesting is that IIT students occupy the top rungs of R&D or management positions in almost all technical companies in the public and private sector in India. Many even hold senior positions in PWD, the Railways, and the Army. This should not surprise as a Department of Science and Technology sponsored study showed that a majority of those employed in the R&D departments of the top 20 public and private sector companies were Masters or PhD products from IITs. Similarly, a significant proportion of those working as teachers in engineering colleges received their higher degrees from the IITs.

What is clear is that the IITs have played a major role in the technical life of India — and this has come from their postgraduate programmes. The importance of postgraduate programmes and the availability of generous scholarships are sometimes lost on those not knowing the facts behind the image of IITs. If these institutions had not given this kind of importance to research and postgraduate education, many of our faculty members, who are well known, would have never joined these institutions. Involvement in research keeps the teachers updated and this upgrades the quality of undergraduate education. Finally, if postgraduate science and engineering education was not free along with adequate stipends (not loans), most of our students would not have opted for a research career.

Interdisciplinary outlook needed

The vision behind the establishment of IITs was that they would become centres of world-class research. A dispassionate analysis would show that we have done better than most people think, but are not good enough yet. However, a foundation has been established and we have to build on it. Like all structures, what is above the ground must be different from the foundation in form as well as function. To move forward in the 21st century, IITs will have to become much more interdisciplinary in their research outlook. This will require working with a much wider variety of professionals in the life sciences and social sciences. Leadership in research will require a much greater emphasis on theoretical work, as much of product development will be done in the secretive laboratories of large companies. Young faculty members will have to work in small tightly knit interdisciplinary groups in close interaction with national and international peer groups.

To achieve this objective, there must be a restructuring and reinventing of the IITs with a vision of the future, not the narrow immediate needs of today. And for this, there must be debate and discussion that captures the aspirations and dreams of the young Indian researchers in India and abroad.

(The writer is Professor and Coordinator, Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme, at IIT Delhi.)

Systematic Revision

Question: What is the most important memory technique for exam?

Answer: Revision.

As the chart diagram shows below, without revision, we forget 82% within 24 hours.

We remember better at about 10 minutes after the learning finishes. The reason for this strange memory phenomenon is simple: at the moment learning period finishes, the brain has not had enough time to organize and store the last items. It needs a few minutes to store, organize, integrate the last items.

Please note that the memory decreases sharply after initial learning. We remember only 18% after 24 hours.

We forget 82% of all that we learn within 24 hours!!

This is a very important fact for you to remember.

So, you must revise in a systematic way to get the maximum benefit from your hard work.

Star - Delta (Wye) conversion of resistances.

This is something that is not taught in many coaching classes. It is enough to know the formulas or equations required to perform these conversions. Will help a lot in simplifying difficult circuits in Current electricity.

"The Secret of Understanding and Using the Power of Beliefs for Your Success"

To understand the mind, we can divide it into two parts: conscious mind and sub-conscious mind. We use conscious mind when we knowingly think or do something. Some function like working of our heart is not under conscious control. It is the power of the sub-conscious mind that makes our heart beat about 72 times per minute regularly for up to 100 years.

Beliefs and your subconscious mind

Psychologists have found that we can consciously be aware of only 7 + 2 items at a time. But our sub-conscious mind can be aware of a large number of items at a time. For example, at any time, the sub-conscious is aware of many body functions including blood pressure, heart beats, body temperature, chemical balances, blood flow, taking care of emergencies, etc.

The subconscious mind is not under our conscious control. The sub-conscious mind functions on the basis of information stored in it.
This is the basis of mind programming. Mind programming means that if we can put information in a person's subconscious mind, then we can modify that person's behavior.

The main difficulty is the conscious mind, which does not let us put information in the sub-conscious mind. Actually the conscious mind analyses the information, and discards all that it considers false or non-useful. For example, someone who is not confident, says to himself "I am confident". The conscious mind analyses this sentence and decides that this sentence is false. And it does not put this information into the sub-conscious mind.

Power of Beliefs

A belief is an idea that we accept to be true. It can be a fact, a guiding principle, an opinion, or a faith in someone or something. We can have faith in our teacher or doctor, in the value of being honest or good, in the value of exercise for good health, in our ability to succeed, or in the value of reading newspapers, magazines, and books.

A belief can be conscious or subconscious. Conscious beliefs mean that we know that we believe something. Subconscious belief means that we do not even know that we believe something.

An example of subconscious belief is that we accept to be true what we see on the TV, what we hear on the radio, and what we read in the newspapers.

Beliefs are powerful. Here are a few examples that illustrate how beliefs affect performance.

Elephant and rope

When an elephant is a small baby elephant, it is tied with a big strong chain. It tries hard to escape from the chain, but it can not escape. As the elephant grows, the trainers replace the big strong chain by small rope. Surprisingly, the elephant still remains tied to the rope. It probably thinks "There is no point trying ... I know ... I have tried before and failed ... I am tied with the rope ... I can not escape".

How some new world records were created

In the first half of this century, athletes and trainers believed that human body could not run a mile in 4 minutes. Then, in May 1954, one runner ran a mile in less than 4 minutes. In June of the same year, another person did it again. Since then, hundreds of people have run a mile in less than 4 minutes. It shows that the belief in impossibility was in the mind only.

In weight-lifting it was believed that 500 pounds was the limit for the human body. Many could lift 499, but none 500 or more. Then the trainers fooled a Soviet weight lifter Vasily Alexeev: the actual weight was 501.5 pounds but they told it was only 499. Vasily Alexeev lifted the weight. Once the belief was broken, many other weight-lifters were able to lift more than 500 pounds.

The magic of sugar tablets

The magic of sugar tablets (also called the placebo effect) is well known to the medical doctors. In some placebo studies, patients were given sugar tablets that contained no medicine. But they were told that they were getting some powerful medicine. Many people got cured by sugar tablets. They got well just by believing that they were getting some real medicine. This example shows how the mind affects your body.

Students get high marks because of teachers belief

In one study, educational researchers divided students of equal IQ into two groups. Teachers were told that one group had a high IQ and should get high marks. The other had a low IQ and should get low marks. What do you think was the result? The group which teachers expected to get high marks, really got high marks. The other group got low marks

Overcoming the Habit of Postponing Actions (Procrastination)

When do we procrastinate actions?

When do we postpone important things that we know we need to do for our success?

It is when we are not sure of success. It is when we are in doubt. Or, it is when the work is boring or unpleasant.

If you have been postponing something for long, look back to find out what is the reason. Once you know the reason, make a decision to do it now / today / this week, without any further delay. Make a commitment to yourself. Make a promise to yourself to finally do it. That is all it takes

Differential Equations For Dummies

This plain-English guide explores the many applications of this mathematical tool and shows how differential equations can help us understand the world around us. Differential Equations For Dummies is the perfect companion for a college differential equations course and is an ideal supplemental resource for other calculus classes as well as science and engineering courses. It offers step-by-step techniques, practical tips, numerous exercises, and clear, concise examples to help readers improve their differential equation-solving skills and boost their test scores.


Discover how to:

Classify differential equations

Solve with integrating factors

Work with coefficients

Use handy theorems

Download!