7 Time Management Tips

With exams approaching, you should be thinking about how to get better at time management and organize your days so you can strike the right balance between home, work and university life.
By taking the time to arrange your priorities, you can give yourself the best chance of staying on track and organized during the exam period, which in turn can help reduce stress levels, something that can be the difference between success and failure at university.
Take a look at our top seven time management tips, so that you can do your best at university and also find moments to relax and even earn some money on the side.

1) What do you have to do?

The first stage of improving your time management is to list absolutely everything that you have to do. This may sound obvious, but speaking from experience, most students tend to leave important tasks until the last minute, which can impact on the quality of their work and their overall grade.
Include any university deadlines as well as any shifts you work on the list, and make a note of how much time each priority will take out of your schedule.

2) Create a life schedule

Whether it’s a pin-up planner, a timetable or a calendar on your phone, find an organizing tool that works well for you and add your list of priorities to it. Also, think about when you are most alert, so that you can plan your study periods around these times.
Find time for socializing, but also make sure that you get enough sleep. Most people need between 7 to 8 hours sleep every night to remain focused and alert during study periods.

3) Be flexible but realistic

Typically, allow around 8-10 hours a day for working, studying, socializing and anything else practical you need to do.
As a full-time student, you’re expected to dedicate 35 hours a week to university studies, including the time you spend in seminars and lectures. If you only spend 15 hours a week attending tutor-led learning, you should use the extra 20 hours for independent study.
It’s also important to remember that things often take longer than expected. So, allow a little extra time in case you spend longer on a task than you thought you would.

4) Allow time for planning to avoid repetition

Taking the time to research, plan and think about your work is crucial for good time management. Allow yourself the time to process new information and plan how you are going to use it, as this can help you to avoid having to re-read and repeat any research.
One way of effectively planning before researching is to make a list of everything you want to find out, so that you can make notes below each subheading as you go.

5) Avoid procrastination and distraction

One way to avoid procrastination is to think about the different places you have been when studying – where were you the most focused? Where were you most distracted?
Remember, what works for one person might not necessarily work for you.  For some, studying with friends can limit their productivity. But for others, studying in groups can help to increase motivation and avoid procrastination.

6) Exercise to clear your head in between study sessions

Believe it or not, exercise works in the same way sleep does. It can focus your state of mind, helping you to clear your head in between study sessions. If you’re new to exercise, aim to fit in a 10-minute run here and there, steadily increasing the amount you do as you go on.

7) Has your organization been effective?

Constantly reviewing and reassessing your schedule can help you to recognize whether you need to make any changes in order to help you complete any university tasks and also have time to relax and spend time with friends and family.

Buffer Solution

What is a buffer solution?

Definition
A buffer solution is one which resists changes in pH when small quantities of an acid or an alkali are added to it.

Acidic buffer solutions
An acidic buffer solution is simply one which has a pH less than 7. Acidic buffer solutions are commonly made from a weak acid and one of its salts - often a sodium salt.
A common example would be a mixture of ethanoic acid and sodium ethanoate in solution. In this case, if the solution contained equal molar concentrations of both the acid and the salt, it would have a pH of 4.76. It wouldn't matter what the concentrations were, as long as they were the same.

You can change the pH of the buffer solution by changing the ratio of acid to salt, or by choosing a different acid and one of its salts.

Alkaline buffer solutions
An alkaline buffer solution has a pH greater than 7. Alkaline buffer solutions are commonly made from a weak base and one of its salts.
A frequently used example is a mixture of ammonia solution and ammonium chloride solution. If these were mixed in equal molar proportions, the solution would have a pH of 9.25. Again, it doesn't matter what concentrations you choose as long as they are the same.

Differentiation

The essence of calculus is the derivative. The derivative is the instantaneous rate of change of a function with respect to one of its variables. This is equivalent to finding the slope of the tangent line to the function at a point . 

Network Topology

Network topology is the arrangement of the various elements (links, nodes, etc.) of a computer network. Essentially, it is the topological structure of a network and may be depicted physically or logically. Physical topology is the placement of the various components of a network, including device location and cable installation, while logical topology illustrates how data flows within a network, regardless of its physical design. Distances between nodes, physical interconnections, transmission rates, or signal types may differ between two networks, yet their topologies may be identical.There are two basic categories of network topologies :physical topologies and logical topologies.
The cabling layout used to link devices is the physical topology of the network. This refers to the layout of cabling , the locations of nodes, and the interconnections between the nodes and the cabling. The physical topology of a network is determined by the capabilities of the network access devices and media, the level of control or fault tolerance desired, and the cost associated with cabling or telecommunications circuits.
The logical topology in contrast, is the way that the signals act on the network media, or the way that the data passes through the network from one device to the next without regard to the physical interconnection of the devices. A network's logical topology is not necessarily the same as its physical topology. For example, the original twisted pair ethernet using repeater hubs was a logical bus topology with a physical star topology layout. Token Ring is a logical ring topology, but is wired as a physical star from the Media Access Unit .
The logical classification of network topologies generally follows the same classifications as those in the physical classifications of network topologies but describes the path that the data takes between nodes being used as opposed to the actual physical connections between nodes. The logical topologies are generally determined by network protocols as opposed to being determined by the physical layout of cables, wires, and network devices or by the flow of the electrical signals, although in many cases the paths that the electrical signals take between nodes may closely match the logical flow of data, hence the convention of using the terms logical topology and signal topology interchangeably.
Logical topologies are often closely associated with Media Access Control methods and protocols. Logical topologies are able to be dynamically reconfigured by special types of equipment such as routers and switches.The study of network topology recognizes eight basic topologies:point-to-point, bus, star, ring or circular, mesh, tree, hybrid, or daisy chain.

Recombinant DNA

Recombinant DNA is the general name for a piece of DNA that has been created by the combination of at least two strands. Recombinant DNA molecules are sometimes called chimeric DNA, because they can be made of material from two different species, like the mythical chimera. R-DNA technology uses palindromic sequences and leads to the production of sticky and blunt ends.
The DNA sequences used in the construction of recombinant DNA molecules can originate from any species. For example, plant DNA may be joined to bacterial DNA, or human DNA may be joined with fungal DNA. In addition, DNA sequences that do not occur anywhere in nature may be created by the chemical synthesis of DNA, and incorporated into recombinant molecules. Using recombinant DNA technology and synthetic DNA, literally any DNA sequence may be created and introduced into any of a very wide range of living organisms.
Proteins that can result from the expression of recombinant DNA within living cells are termed recombinant proteins. When recombinant DNA encoding a protein is introduced into a host organism, the recombinant protein is not necessarily produced.Expression of foreign proteins requires the use of specialized expression vectors and often necessitates significant restructuring by foreign coding sequences.Recombinant DNA differs from genetic recombination in that the former results from artificial methods in the test tube, while the latter is a normal biological process that results in the remixing of existing DNA sequences in essentially all organisms.