A new design of dual-electrode electrochemical detector for liquid chromatography is described utilizing two series generator/detector electrodes. The detector developed is based on the larger electrode area design compared with commercial ones and has higher electrolytic efficiency, which lead to a higher detection sensitivity when in a reductive-oxidative series detection mode. Analytes are first reduced at the upstream electrode and the reaction products are then detected by oxidation at the downstream electrode. So, the influence of dissolved oxygen and trace amounts of heavy metals in the mobile phase and sample is eliminated. Thus, exhaustive removal of dissolved oxygen before analysis is not required. and the method can be easily automated. The technique is tested on seven aromatic nitro compounds. Under the optimized conditions, the assay is linear in a concentration range of 2.0 X lo--to 4.0 X 10-' g/mL and has low detection limits of 1.0 to 2.0 ng using a 10 FL sample. The largest standard deviation was 5.2%. The recovery of the detection of water samples was 93 to 107%.

Since sudden enlightenment in the Platform Sutra is over-emphasized and gradual practice is comparatively ignored by quite a number of scholars, this article is primarily intended to illustrate that for Huineng, gradual practice and sudden enlightenment are practically integrated, which has profound ethical implications. Furthermore, it goes a step further to explore how gradual practice is made possible, by using original material in the text and by introducing relevant theory from Daoism. It also addresses the question about transcendence of morality that some scholars raise. Through exploring the topics of virtue and knowledge in Huineng’s thought with the help of Daoist wisdom, I aim to show that, as sudden enlightenment is accompanied by gradual practice, virtue together with knowledge appear hand in hand in a “perfect” form, which also strengthens the feature of perfection revealed in Huineng’s ethical doctrine.

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Conventional accounts of Zhuangzi’s concept of fate are limited to only a certain aspect of it. At the same time, they seem to be mutually contradictory. This essay investigates this concept afresh based on textual analysis and elucidates Zhuangzi’s real concerns about fate. This analysis reveals that Zhuangzi laid stress on the virtue demonstrated in confronting the unavoidable. More specifically, the important meaning of fate encompasses, on the one hand, a whole acceptance of the facts facing us by forgetting oneself, and on the other hand, responding positively to the facts by following the “Heavenly Way” until a spontaneous state is reached. We shall see as well how Zhuangzi’s views on the relation between Heaven and the Human, and on certain moral values, help to validate his theory on fate. Thus, through exploring his underlying thoughts and showing how their various aspects are logically connected, we shall show that Zhuangzi’s concept of fate is imbued with a humanistic spirit in the face of affairs in the real world.

Zhuangzi is a philosopher who consciously ponders on "Zhi" in the Pre-Qin Dynasty. It constitutes an important part of Zhuangzi's philosophy and becomes a significant way to understand Zhuangzi. This essay is based on two propositions-"Zhi Wei Nie" and "Yi Zhi Wei Shi" to discuss "Zhi". As far as Zhuangzi is concerned, "Zhi" is an instinctive ability but we cannot always conform to "Tian", so "Zhi" becomes a "weapon" that we use to struggle with each other due to our selfish motives. This is the meaning of "Zhi Wei Nie". On the contrary, "Yi Zhi Wei Shi" is a right living way which eliminates egoism, utilitarianism and instrumentality. As a consequence, "Zhi" is a basis on which human is in harmony with the heaven (tian) and deserves the title "Tian yu".