Separation of Photosynthetic Pigments: Paper Chromatography

Separation of Photosynthetic hues Paper Chromato chartyPlant keys cast off the ability to buy out visible elucidate, which crumb be utilise in order to harvest energy for photochemical reactions. There be a variety of paints preface in lay outs, and for this essay, these keys were sepa stationd using new-sprung(prenominal)s business relationship chromatography. Absorbance spectrophotometry was excessively employ in order to obtain the distinguishable absorbances of the pig man strengthts. The data was and then employ to comp be relative chlorophyl message in two old and young leaves, and to grade the pig man business officets present in the leaves. It was seen that chlorophyl a and b were present, and young leaves yielded more chlorophyll than old leaves as reflected by the gamey absorbance of the young tack get out as compa inflamed to the old leaf extract. The performance of this experi handst can be deemed successful in separating pigments, so far identification of the pigment concentration could in every case be make to get out quantify the amount of pigment in the leaves.INTRODUCTIONChromatography is a proficiency utilize to separate complex mixtures among a stationary human body and a mobile phase. (Craig) There argon several types of chromatography, namely brag chromatography, liquid chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, adsorption chromatography, partition chromatography, and molecular exclusion chromatography. (Carrier, Bordonaro and Yip) The purpose behind this forge is that the sm aller the affinity a corpuscle has for the stationary phase, the faster it migrates. The stationary phase varies dep eradicateing on the type of chromatography used (Carrier, Bordonaro and Yip). Most of the time, chromatography is used for purification techniques. The process is also used in separation of substances, an example of which is political platformt pigments.The result of chromatography is a chromatogram. From the chromatogram, diametrical entropy nearly the test sample can be attained. By calculation the number of gushs in the chromatogram, ane can deduce the complexity of the mixture. The more peaks there are, the more complex the mixture is. Also, qualitative randomness about the composition of the mixture can be deduced by compa peal the peak positions with a amount. Quantitative assessment of the relative concentration of the components can also be attained by comparing the peak areas (Carrier, Bordonaro and Yip).In this experiment, chromatography was used to separate pigments extracted from old and young leaves. The pigments were further identify using absorbance spectrophotometry.MATERIALS AND METHODSFor this experiment, photosynthetic pigments were uninvolved by means of report chromatography and the absorption spectra of these were measu chromatic through absorbance spectrophotometry.Pigment ExtractionOld and young leaf samples were obtained ar ound the UP campus. single(a)ly set of samples was shredded into smaller pieces and weighed to twenty grams. Using mortar and pestle, each(prenominal) sample was immersed in 50 ml acetone and ground good to fully extract the chloroplast pigments. After this, the extracts were filtered by using filter piece and Buchner funnel. The eluted extracts were collected in separate beakers and transferred into separate test tubes, and labelled wherefore as OLD and YOUNG.Paper ChromatographyThe extract from young leaves was subjected to study chromatography. trio pieces of 3cm x 11cm Whatman no. 42 filter composing were cut out. The sheets of paper were marked 3 cm from one end, and 2 cm from the close to another(prenominal). The 3cm-point served as the point where the extract would be loaded, enchantment the 2cm-point dictates the point of termination of the chromatogram. This end was tied with a string so that it could easily be hang up on a Gatorade bottle cap.With a Pasteur p ipette, one drop of extract was loaded on each sheet of the filter paper. To further bang up the loading, the filter paper sheets were loaded ten times. However, for each loading, the previous soil was allowed to dry before an additional drop of extract was added.Developing upshot of pet regionum ether was prepared. The return key was then poured into three Gatorade bottles, filling wholly up to two centimetres of the bottle. The paper strips were then secured on the bottle caps with enter and hung, with its end touching the developing effect, solely not the loaded extract.The discipline of the chromatogram was terminated after the pigments or the developing solvent has reached the 2cm-line. Of the three chromatograms, simply one was presented for the results be ca-ca it has the clea liberalisation separation.Absorbance SpectrophotometryAbsorbance spectrophotometry was also done to obtain absorbance spectra of the different pigments present in leaves. Both the old and youn g leaf extracts were used and the absorbances of extracts were obtained for the following wavelengths (nm) 400, 450, 470, 500, 550, 600, 647, 650, 663, 700. dickens trials were done per leaf sample. The absorbances obtained were then plotted against wavelength.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONPigments are be as substances in plants that are able to absorb visible devolve. These can be classified into three basic groups. (University of calcium Berkeley, 2006)The low gear are the chlorophylls which are greenish pigments containing a porphyrin ring. The ring contains several double bonds which makes it stable, and at the alike(p) time allows free migration of electrons. In this way, when sunlight strikes the plant surface, electrons in the pigment molecules of the chloroplast thylakoid become excited which in turn pass on this excitation to the photosystems that begins the series of cellular events that generate oxygen and sugar.Four species of chlorophyll a, b, c, and d are cognize. ch lorophyll a is the primary photosynthetic pigment in all higher plants, algae, and the cyanobacteria. Chlorophyll b is raise head-nigh in all higher plants and green algae, differing from the former alone in that a formyl group substitutes for the methyl group in ring II. Chlorophyll c is meanwhile nominate in the diatoms, dinoflagellates, and brown algae and wishs the phytol shag of chlorophyll a. Lastly, chlorophyll d is found only in the red algae and has an (-O-CHO) group in place of the (-CH=CH2) group on ring I of chlorophyll a. (Taiz and Zeiger, 2008)The second class of pigments are the carotenoids. They are unremarkably red, orange, or yellow pigments composed of two small six-carbon rings affiliated by a chain of carbon atoms. Their high carbon content prevents them from dissolving in body of water and as such they must be attached to membranes inwardly the cell. They have several functions, including the broadening of the spectrum of colors able to drive photos ynthesis (especially in seasons with shortened days such as hang and winter), and in photoprotection they are able to absorb and dissipate excessive light energy that can otherwise damage chlorophyll or act with oxygen to produce reactive oxidative molecules that can damage the cell. (Cain, et. Al, 2011)The tercet class of pigments are the phycobilins. They are water- meltable pigments found in the chloroplast stroma or the cell cytoplasm. Occurring only in the Cyanobacteria and Rhodophyta, they are efficient in absorbing light wavelengths that are not well absorbed by chlorophyll a. These pigments are bound to phycobiliproteins which pass on the absorbed light energy to chloroplasts for photosynthesis.Knowledge of which types of pigments are present in a plant is useful in the field of agriculture. Using this instruction, lights that promoting the optimal growth of plants having sealed pigments can be developed, increasing their yield. Additionally, pigments extracted from pla nts can be used as dyes in scientific research.One way of determining the pigments present in a plant sample is through paper chromatography. Paper chromatography separates pigments present in the plant sample based on their solubilities in the solvent compounds which are very soluble move along with the advancing solvent front, while slight soluble compounds travel slowly through the paper, well behind the solvent front. Chlorophyll a is slightly soluble in a 311 mixture of petroleum ether, acetone, and water (which was the resulting mixture used in the canvas), while carotenoids are very soluble in this system. This difference in solubility should allow the separation of chlorophyll a from the carotenoids and chlorophyll b, which is less soluble than chlorophyll a. (Bowen and Baxter, 1980)The following chromatogram was obtained from the chromatography done in the study.chlorophyll Bchlorophyll AcarotenoidFigure 1. Obtained chromatogram from the paper chromatography of (young or old?) leaf extracts. Only one trial was used in the identification of pigments, with the top more or less halo determined to be a carotenoid, followed by chlorophyll A and chlorophyll B.The first pigment dress circle was identified as a carotenoid due to its yellow-orange color, the second band identified as chlorophyll A due to its darker green color, and the third band identified as chlorophyll B due to its yellow-green color. The study is said to be a success in this respect as the results obtained matched the theoretical results.Additionally, pigments can also be identified based on the value of their retention factor the retention factor (Rf) is calculated as the distance the pigment travels (in centimeters) divided by the distance the solvent travels (in centimeters). trite values of the Rf are compared to the calculated values and the closest standard value that matches the calculated value is used to identify the pigment. This step however, was no longer done in the study .Figure 2. A graph present the absorbance obtained from the old and young leaf extracts through absorptive spectrophotometry.Spectrophotometry can be go ford for measuring the chlorophyll content of a leaf by measuring the absorbances of the plant extract at red and far red regions of the visible light spectrum. The absorbance of the extract is directly proportional to its chlorophyll content. The experiment metric the absorbances of old and young leaves coming from the same plant in order to compare their chlorophyll content. In the experiment, the pigments from old and young plants were subjected to spectrophotometry to identify which wavelength would yield the highest absorption therefore identifying the pigments present, and also compare at which train of maturity plants would yield more chlorophyll. The former is possible because plant pigments put down in photosynthesis by absorbing light, and there is the optimal wavelength wherein they can absorb the some amount of lig ht and can therefore enhance the process of photosynthesis.Pigments in seed plants may be present as chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids, all with varying abundance. For the old and leaf samples, it can be seen that the measured absorbances peaked at two wavelengths (Figure 2). The first peak is around 450-470 nm while the second peak is around 663 nm. This data implies that most of the pigment extracted must be from chlorophyll a and b, since theoretically, these pigments peak at 430-450 nm and 640-660 nm. It should also be remembered that peaks in an absorbance vs. wavelength pigment spectra means that these pigments absorb and utilize light best in these wavelengths. In Figure 3 below, the other pigments and corresponding peak wavelengths can be seen.Figure 3. Absorption spectra of pigments found in seed plantsAside from knowing the pigments present in the leaves, the graph could also show the relative amount of chlorophyll present in the leaves. Theoretically, older leaves contain much more chlorophyll than younger leaves this is opposite to the results as depicted by Fig. 2. These results can only make guts if the plant from which the extract was taken from has a magnesium deficiency, assuming that no methodological error was committed. Plant with Mg deficiency tend to retreat Mg from old leaves by degrading chlorophyll and then transporting the retrieved Mg to the younger leaves which have higher photosynthetic needs.Other methods of measuring the pigment content of leaves include using chlorophyll content meters, which do not require an extract to be prepared, and the more superior technique known as chlorophyll fluorescence where the ratio of chlorophyll fluorescence at certain wavelengths charge a linearly proportional estimation of the chlorophyll content.Literature CitedHopkins, W.G. Hner, N.P.A. (2009). Introduction to plant physiology ( quaternate ed). Ontario, Canada John Wiley Sons.Cain, M. L, Jackson, R.B., Minorsky, P.V., Reece, J.B., Urry , L.A., Wasserman, S.A. (2011). Campbell biota (9th ed). San Francisco, USA Benjamin/Cummings.University of California Berkeley. (2006). Photosynthetic pigments. Retrieved from http//www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/g lossary/gloss3/pigments.html on August 23, 2012.Bowen, W. R., Baxter, W. D. (1980). Experimental cell biology an integrated laboratory guide and text. New York, USA Macmillan Publishing Co.Taiz L and Zeiger E. (2008). Plant Physiology. 3rd ed. Sinauer Associates, Inc.Hermans C. Vuylsteke F. Coppens F.. 2009. Systems Analysis of the responses to long-term magnesium deficiency and return in Arabidopsis thaliana.New Phytologist187 132-144.Carrier, Rebecca, Julie Bordonaro and Kevin Yip. Chromatography. 1997. 23 August 2012 Retrieved fromhttp//www.rpi.edu/dept/ chem-eng/Biotech beleaguer/CHROMO/chromintro. html.Craig, Paul A. Chromatography. 2007. 23 August 2012 Retrieved from http//people.rit.edu/pac8612/ webionex/website/html/ione8h o9.html. municipalated hysteria discrim inatory profession and treatmentDomestic effect Prevention and treatmentIntroductionDomestic madness is a universal phenomenon and more and more g overning bodys play grandness on it. There are three major types of house servant frenzy including violent against women, child step and elder debauch. Since internal military unit includes originally of craze against women, we will going to re berth the situation of violent against women in Hong Kong in this paper.In this study, the term of military group against women will be used instead of wife disgust because fierceness against women consists not only women who are married legally with the squallr, but also the co-habitees or separated partners, since force play could be continued even the relationship ended.Definitions of vehemence against womenAlthough the United Nations found military unit against women as the major obstacle to the achievement of equality, development and quiescence for women in 1985 (1), the n ations didnt seem to focus it. seek showed that every one of three women in the global had ever experienced power in an allude relationship. (World Health Organization, 1997)(12)Generally speaking, military unit against women refers to those acts totally committed violent against women. In the United Nations General Assembly 1994, effect against women had been outlined as any act of cozy urge-based fury that results in, or is uniformly to result in, physiological, stirual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in semiprivate life. UN had a quite an feminist view that fury against women is an expression of sex inequality and is used to uphold the domination over women and to keep secernment against women by men. (UN, 1995)The severity of violence against womenAccording to the data of Social eudaimonia Department of HK, there is an increase in the number of pard ner strike from 1,906 in 1998 up to 6,483 in 2008. (SWD, HK. 2008) Over 80% of them are women ill-treatment. The researches link up to violence against women in Hong Kong were very rare, they asserted that the situation is getting worsened and the government activity should take it solidly, however. It is about two-third of sea tangles survey respondents had at least one time of verbal tread, (Tang, 1999) enquiryes showed that around 10% of the survey respondents had experienced at least one time of material treat by their phallic partners. (Tang, 1999 Chan, 2005) Chan (2000, 2005) also noticed that a rather high proportion of victims were having picayune facts of life as well as homemakers. Studies revealed the fact that over 50% of battered women were at the age range of 31 to 40 ( capital of New Hampshire home plate Report 2007 Chan, 2000) and over 80% were new migrants from Mainland China. (Harmony abide Report 2007) volume of women who experience intimate violenc e do not report it to the practice of law. (Backman and Coker, 1995) insinuate of this paperIn the following, we will first go through the forms of violence against women including physical clapperclaw, stimulated abuse and informal abuse. Then, the theories colligate to violence against women Family view and Feminist perspective will be discussed, and the idea of Patriarchal political orientation and Confucianism will be communicate. After that, we will look of late into the animate situation in Hong Kong which consist the run reard for the victims and the abusers, the elusiveies the victims face, and how Hong Kong government plow internal violence. In the last part, the intervention strategies ilk resource allocation, canon and genteelness that fall uponing this violence issue will be encountered. Forms of violence against womenThere are three forms of abuse Physical abuse, psychological abuse and informal abuse, in which physical abuse is the most common form that abuse men give to their fe young-begetting(prenominal) partners.Physical abusePhysical abuse refers to a physical assault or violent act that attacks the victims physical integrity, alike(p) pushes, slaps, pinches, punches, spits, kicks, burns, fractures, locked women in the house, put women in an unsafe places or murder. (Chan, 2000) Dobash et al., (1985) stated that only 3% of assaults are low in physical severity the rest are medium or high. (as cited in Mullender, 1996) Physical abuse usually accompanied by turned on(p) abuse.Psychological or worked up abusePsychological abuse, also referred to as emotional abuse, is a winsome of emotional or psychological attacks or the neglect of psychological or emotional needs, described a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that is psychologically harmful. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_abuse) very, there is no universal accepted definition for emotional abuse. hither I developed the definition from U.S. Departme nt of Justice that emotional abuse is causing fear by intimidation, verbal or non-verbal, threatening physical harm to self, partner, children, or partners family or friends, destruction of pets and property, forcing isolation from family, friends, or school or work.(U.S. Department of Justice, Edleson, 1984) Emotional abuse, differ from physical abuse and sexual abuse, is a continued and repetitive behavior, used to harden fear to fortify the control of the abuser so as to strengthen the obeisance and still word meaning to the abuser.Sexual abuseSexual abuse is a dissented and pressurized sexual behavior or acts, squeeze by one person upon another. sometimes the abuser compels unwanted sexual activity without physical force by using their position of trust but mostly physical abuse comes with sexual abuse. According to Chan (2000), those behaviors includes appall or sexual assault, incest coerced by force, incompatible touching, exposure of genitalia, force the partner to ha ve sexy dressing or ignoring ones sexual character. Russell (1990) reminded us that spousal sexual abuse is one mixture of domestic violence which may sometimes constitute matrimonial dishonor or an assault.Causes of the problemTheories related to military unit against womenThe universality of domestic violence caused many scholars to explore the reasons for violence against women.Family perspectiveFamily perspective is one of the perspectives the scholars like to adopt. This approach believed that the behavior of a family member is influenced by the responses or feedback of other members. It seemed violence as a symmetrical between both(prenominal) sexes, and viewed individual and family relation as the core for the explanation for domestic violence, suggested a drop-off in structural stresses and work on individual pathologies in relations with the problem. Obviously the Hong Kong government had ad happyed this perspective in explaining the causes of domestic violence as i t stressed on primary(prenominal)taining the function of the family or improving married relationships. (Leung, 2008)Feminist perspectiveOn the other hand, some scholars explained violence against women abuse from the view of feminist theory which locates the root of violence against women in a mixer-structural context rather than a private or family problem. (United Nation, 1989 hug drug, 1998) This approach believed that women do not have equal rights and do not have institutional power, instead, women are considered as wanting(p) and subordinate, and more serious, the properties to men. (United Nation, 1989)As the tolerance for violence act against women are vary across culture, the feminist give explanation that it is due to different levels of patriarchal values across cultures. (Bui Morash, 1999 Nayak et al.2003) The endorsement of the beliefs regarding rape and spousal physical violence and the tendency of blaming the victim showed that both grammatical sexual activity and sociocultural factors had swell impact on the attitudes toward violence against women. (Nayak et al. 2003) Tang (1999) recommended patriarchate theory in explaining violence against women in Chinese societies.Patriarchal political orientationPatriarchyPatriarchy is a system of golf club in which men holding the determination power over women and children of the household. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchy) Feminists believed that violence against women is rooted in a patriarchal system which men keep women in a subordinate position through the use of control, usually enhanced through existing economics, genial, and political, and legal dimensions. Socialization process help strengthen men to subordinate women. (Sugarmen and Frankel, 1996) Many scholars agreed that the companionable structure created and asserted to a lower place the patriarchy keep on justified the male dominant beliefs of womens inferior perspective. (Tang, 1999 Anderson, 1988 Sugarmen and Frankel, 1996 )Patriarchal political theory and ConfucianismConfucianism which strengthens patriarchal system had great impact in Chinese society. Women lived under the ethical norms of Confucianism were suppressed into inferior, dependent, and submissive status, and are expect to obey the men. In the former(prenominal) thousand years, Chinese women followed adult femalehood decencies like san cong si de (three obedience and four virtues) and xian qi liang mu, (a virtuous wife and a good mother) (Tang, 1999) see contributing male offsprings to their conserves lineage and serving her husband as her responsibilities.The amicable norms in Chinese society accept using physical force to discipline female family members, for those fail to live up their prescribed roles will result in patraiarchal brutality under the rules of the family. Therefore, it is legal for a man to afford all forms of violence against women, usually physical abuse. On the other hand, the Chinese culture of interpersonal har mony coerce wives to keep on tolerating the inequality so as to protect the spirit and stability of their families. Research showed that around half of the surveyed women mentioned cultural reasons for staying with their partner. (Adam, 1998) Therefore, the extent of violence against women has been largely hidden and widely denied by our society.Though Chinese women had great opportunities for education in recent decades, and there is an increase in the acceptance of a greater flexibility of sexual urge norms, decision making power in the household discipline still holding in the mens hand. more and more female go out to work, yet they have to do most of the housework. (Choi and Lee, 1997) Chan and Lee believed that handed-down patriarchal values are deep permeated into Chinese family system. Therefore, when wives ask for more gender equality, the husbands may understand as their domination and superiority in the family had been defied, and may react with use of violence. Ta ng (1999) As the society tolerate towards domestic violence, and the experience of being inconsistency when seeking for help, the ill-treat women remained in the relationship.The existing situation in Hong Kong delirium against women in Hong KongIn the past 10 years, there was a rapid increase in spousal abuse. Importantly, more than 80% of victims of spousal abuse in 2008 were female, 60% of the female victims were suffering from physical abuse (SWD, HK, 2008) Harmony House reported that 71% of women had been subjected to violence for over three years. (Harmony House annual Report 2008-2009) Pahl(1985a) and Binneyet al. (1988) got similar findings. (As cited in Mullender, 1996) Harmony House (Harmony House, 1996/1997 Annual Report) pointed out 41.7% of female victims suffered from both physical and sex abuse, and 24.1% suffered physical, psychological and sexual abuse at the same time. Chan (2000) found that 63.6% of his survey respondents viewed male chauvinism as the major c ause of domestic violence which request obedience of the women. It is concluded as influenced by the traditional culture of patriarchal political theory in which female were in an inferior status.It is rather problematic that the large number as well as the front-line professionals such as practice of law officers and social workers were likely to endorse that wife abuse is a private matter or family issue. (Tang, 2005 Leung, 2008) Leung (2008) stated that the occurrence of domestic violence, in the current view of Hong Kong society, is due to lack of communication between family members or because of individuals under pressure. The mainstream believed that both men and women have equal chance of spousal abuse. Therefore, the government did not consider the hidden gender power imbalances in domestic violence during the form _or_ system of government formulating process.Under such ideologies, the go related to domestic violence focus on how to maintain the unity of the family ra ther the safety of the victims the law officers view domestic violence as low priority to handle, and discourage abused women to file their complaints (Leung, 2008), and legal system continue to treat battering as an individual problem rather than criminal behavior (Ferraro, 1989 Leung, 2008) In result, the victims who are in the subordinate status would rather keep quite, while the abusers violent act was intensified. (Leung, 2006)(Tam and Tang, 2005)Service provided for the victims and the abusersThere are certain NGOs in Hong Kong care and pay effort in the fighting against domestic violence, providing shelters and expediencys for victims and male batterers, arranging prevention programmes and community education. Due to confine resources, their services are unable to handle the needs.Leung (2009) explained the Hong Kong government has increase the budget on family service in the past years in order to parent more staff to carry out the family support projects, nevertheless , the fund did not specifically designate to the use of handling cases of domestic violence. SWD had increase resources on the accommodation beds in the shelter from 180 in 2007-2008 to 260 in 2008-2009, and to get the working hour of the shelters so as to provide better service for the victims. But it is regrettable that there are too pocket-size resources for measures to combat gender-based violence in the home.The difficulties the victims faceResearchers found that the abused women in Hong Kong had great difficulties in seeking help from neither law officers nor social workers. (Leung, 2008 Hong Kong Womens confederation on Equal Opportunities, 2005 Tam and Tang, 2005) It is very common for the front-line professionals to endorse that wife abuse is a private matter or family issue. (Tang, 2005 Leung, 2008) Leung (2008) pointed out that abused women always had bad experience when they seek help from the constabulary. Most of the police perceive violence against women as a fam ily issue and pay less attention to it, they usually persuade the victims to close the files. Even though the police are willing to handle the case, for domestic violence usually seems as family disputes which may not involved in criminal act that the police could take action, the case would most be disregarded. On the other hand, some front-line social workers paid inadequate support and empathy to the victims. It is largely because of the common warp attitudes towards the abused women especially those came from Mainland China. Some other social workers use family therapy that emphasis unity of the family to handle domestic violence cases that force the abused woman to go back to the abuser. It is inevitable that rare of legislator, social worker or police may suggest the abused women to apply direction order. It revealed that the front-line professionals were lack of gender esthesia in dealing the cases.The abused women often found housing problem. Compassionate rehousing could only offer by the social workers of SWD which relied on strong social ground defined by the social workers themselves. However, most social workers had bias that those women were taking advantage during the process. The policies of CSSA restrict the application for those new arrivals that were lived in Hong Kong for less than seven years even those they suffered from abuse.How Hong Kong government handle Domestic ViolenceThere was a great reaction in the society after Tin Sui Wai Family Tragedy happened in 2004 and the government was forced to deal with it. According to the Report of Review Panel on Family service in Tin Shui Wai (2004), 25 suggestions were addressed, including the measures of three-tiered structure established by the police provide a graded response to investigating domestic violence. applicable information is input into the Central Domestic Violence Database, district supervisory officers will look into those repeated cases occurring within 12 months. However, t he prosecution rate of cooperator battering remains low. In 2005, the police recorded 1,274 cases of spouse battering, in which 1,159 cases were arrested due to their criminal act, but only 10% were in the end convicted. (Hong Kong Amnesty International, 2006)The Domestic Violence Ordinance (DVO) was enacted in 1986 in Hong Kong. At that time, the scope of definition of domestic violence is narrow to those live in matrimonial home, but excludes some other intimate relationships like co-habitees, separated partners or same sex partners. And the domestic violence is seemed as attack in this ordinance that restricted domestic violence to civil act. The limited scope of definition of domestic violence led to low usance rate of DVO and low application of injunction order. Amendments of DVO came after more and more criticism in recent years in 2008 and 2009. Amendments includes the scope of definition of domestic violence extend to co-habitees, separated partners and same sex cohabita nts and the Batterer preventive Programme was enforced.The Womens Commission, a central mechanism plays a strategic role in advising Hong Kong Government on policy direction on women issues, addressed a policy paper in 2006 to outline a dodging to address victims empowerment, prevention of violence, timely and effective intervention, community education and support. The paper provided a lot of suggestions related to various aspects, including legislation reform, services, promotion, database, training for professionals, training on gender mainstream, early identification and intervention and community networks. The paper is comprehensive, yet the Commission has not legal authorities to implement the suggestions.In response to the rapid increase of domestic violence in past decades, functioning Group on Combating Violence (WGCV), coordinated by the SWD, comprises representatives from related bureaux, government departments and non-governmental organizations, is formed for mapping out strategies to address the problem of spouse battering and sexual violence. (www.swd.gov.hk) Due to limited dictum, the WGCV seems unable to coordinate the cooperation among different sectors of the government departments that no body function in policy making, coordination, and supervising (Leung, 2008)Leung (2008) criticized that the work done by the Hong Kong government in the fighting against domestic violence was unsatisfactory, the most critical problem is that the Hong Kong government and most of the policy makers did not view violence against women at home as a gender issue or human right issue but only family issue. For this reason, no comprehensive policy base on the gender mainstream was set to handle the domestic violence. (Leung, 2006 Hong Kong Womens Coalition on Equal Opportunities) The SWD report (2005) confirmed that domestic violence is a family matter by mentioned that family violence amongst those who used violence, such as low self-esteem, lack of empathy, alcohol or drug addiction, a history of abuse and neglect as a child, social isolation etc.. Such viewpoint makes people ignore how serious women abuse is in Hong Kong, and force the abused women to remain in the relationship. Actually domestic violence rooted in patriarchal ideology that is general over the community that the violent act of the abuser is literally an disrespect of manipulation of male against women.Leung (2008) found that there are two main obstacles in putting the concept of gender mainstream into the domestic violence policies. The first one is that both the front-line professional and the policy makers were lack of gender sensitivity secondly, inadequate resource and service coordination is put and insufficient staff and strength of coordinating framework to organize, and to coordinate and supervise the policies of domestic violence and its implementation. (Leung, 2008, P70) Besides, the government has not made any specific action plan on how to carry out the gender mainstreaming policy.Intervention strategies to combat the violence issueLegislation and judicial proceduresIt is necessary to review the current measures on domestic violence if we want to resolve the issue of violence against women in the long-run. In the aspect of legislation and judicial procedures, the government should take a deep review the law on domestic violence so that violence against women could be classified as criminal act. Simplify and improve the judicial protection orders like lengthen the duration of injunction order would be helpful. Also, improvement to the measures of support for victims of domestic violence would reinforce the prosecution. It is rather difficult for the victims to testify against their husbands face to face in the court. The Hong Kong Council of Social Service (2007) consequently suggested providing supporting worker for the victims who would accompany with victims during the hearing, provide relevant legal information actively, and c ontact with the prosecutors and the court to keep updated the process of the case. Comprehensive information for victims is vital. For most of the victims do not know their right, it is rather helpful if the front-line professional would provide appropriate information and service such as shelters and application for injunction order.ResourcesIt is certainly that government should enhance the availability and accessibility of the shelters at the same time. For the perpetrators, compulsory batterer intervention program (BIP) seems to be effective and should be enforced. On the other hand, Tin Sui Wai Family Tragedy revealed that professional training for handling domestic violence must be strengthened. As a matter of fact, social welfare agencies are lack of resources and support from the government to combat gender-based violence in the home. Therefore, it is unable for them to deepen the intervention and therapies on domestic violence. The government should add the specific matchin g grants of domestic violence. Although extra HKD 22 one thousand thousand has budgeted to recruit additional staff to implement family support projects, no assigning for the fund to handle cases of domestic violence, in result, no advancement to the service on domestic violence.The change of ideologyOther than resource and legislation and judicial procedures, the change of ideology is most significant. In recent years, governments in many western countries agreed that domestic violence is a gender issue and bring it to the criminal level. Similar arguments also found in Hong Kong (The Womens Commission, 2006 Leung, 2006, 2008)Leung (2008) stressed that the best way to protect women from abuse is to take the concept of gender mainstream into account when handling the issue of domestic violence. The concept of gender mainstreaming having been developed after the 1985 3rd World Conference on Women in Nairobi and was formally featured in the Platform for Action of the 4th World Confer ence on Women in Beijing in 1995. (centers.law.nyu.edu) sexuality mainstreaming is defined as the public policy concept of the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making womens as well as mens concerns and experiences an constitutional dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and social spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The eventual(prenominal) goal is to achieve gender equality. (United Nations, 1997)In response to the ineffective of WGCV, Leungs suggestions are worthy to mention. Leung (2008) suggested the government should adopt the definition of gender mainstreaming and its practice guidelines offered by international organizations to develop a comprehensive policy of domestic violence and strategy execution a ccording to gender mainstream and to establish a high ranking coordinating body to work out an action plan for combating and preventing domestic violence to improve the central data collection and the information dissemination systems to consolidate the quislingism system between government and NGOs to get wind the resources had been used in combating against violence, to set up crisis intervention team with the collaboration of police and social workers to meliorate the service coordination within different social service organizations to strengthen the education on gender sensitivity for the frontline professionals. point of referenceChan, K.L. (2000) The Impact of Family Violence to Women and their Children, Hong Kong Hong Kong Christian Family Service and Hong Kong University, Department of Social Work and Social Administration.Leung, L.C. (2008) The possibilities of Gender Mainstreaming Domestic Violence Policy in Hong Kong. Hong Kong metropolis University of Hong Kong, Depar tment of Applied Social Science. (centers.law.nyu.edu/jeanmonnet/papers/00/000201)United Nations. Report of the economic and Social Council for 1997. A/52/3.18 September 1997.Backman, R., Coker, A. (1995). Police involvement in domestic violence The interactive effects of victim injury, offenders history of violence, and race. Violence and Victims, 10(2), 91- 106.Other informationDefinitions of domestic violenceIntimate partner violence (IPV), also termed domestic violence, is the most common form of violence against women. (Watt and Zimmerman, 2002) Wesley defined domestic violence as any behavior which is intended to cause unwanted harm, either physical (e.g., sexual or physical assault, and murder) or nonphysical (e.g., intimidation malicious insults) to a romantic partner. (Wesley et al, 2006) Adams gave a rather completed definition, the repeated, habitual or random use of aggression, whether physical, verbal, social, sexual, emotional, psychological or economic, by an indiv idual on a partner or ex-partner in an existing or previous domestic relationship to force entering to that persons demands, thus depriving the partner of personal liberty and basic human rights. (Adam, 1998)Continuums of abuseApart from the forms of abuse, we should consider the level of severity of abuse when we look into a case whether it is an abuse or not. The following table showed different levels of abuse from least to most severe.Assumed relationship between Patriarchal ideology and Attitude towards violence against womenSugarman and Frankel (1996) in their study examining how wide the patriarchy ideology molds the individuals experiences in terms of domestic violence, showed that previous researches on wife abuse done by Dobash and Dobash (1979), Kurz (1989) and Schechter (1982) conjectured that acceptance of traditional gender ideals and expectations about women serves to maintain subordination of women and is a primary source of violence against women (Sugarman and Fran kel, 1996) Pagelow (1984) even suggested that traditional gender belief system could be retain since the assaultive husbands adopt the patriarchal conception of family. (Sugarman and Frankel, 1996) Findings verified that assaultive husbands showed more positive attitudes toward marital violence than nonassaultive husbands (Sugarman and Frankel, 1996)However, until 2005, the United Nations still found that women subjected to violence, including physical violence, psychological violence or sexual violence is a very common phenomenon. Research reportHealth Canada (1996) tended to believe that emotional abuse is based on power and control and characterized it into six forms rejecting, degrading, terrorizing, isolating, corrupting/exploiting and denying emotional responsivenessTomison and Tucci (1997) mentioned that emotional abuse is characterised by a climate or pattern of behaviour(s) occurring over time. Physical abuse always accompany with emotional abuse contains linguistic commun ication and actions to break the womans spirit and destroy her self-image and self-esteem. (Mullender, 1996)It also includes imposing any kind of intimacy while the woman is still hurting from the violence, and physical or verbal harassment. (Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, 2001, Alic, Margaret Burstow Mullender, 1996 Wikipedia)Most of the scholars explained violence against women from mainly two different views of theories, one is from the view of individual or family ground, and another is from the view of society or social structure. Psychological theories emphasis on assertively intractable anger which is seen as rooted in unresolved family conflicts, primitive assertive reactions, the submerged fear of the bully, insecure dependence on women, or any other form of internal stress (Mullender, 1996, summarized by Dobash and Dobash, 1992, p237)Feminists view that violence against women as a typical behavior and brooked by the society with the applause of social rules supporting male domination. (Adam, 1998) United Nation (1989) believed the interconnection of economic, social and political factors creating a structure placed the women with low economic status in a weakness position to violence within the household. Adam stressed that the masculine values in capitalist system apt to value women as mother, housewives or sexual objectsNayak et al. (2003) examined the attitudes of undergraduates from four countries toward violence against women, and detect that groups with different values or attitudes also differ in violence acts, and would have different level of acceptance of violence.It refers not only the power of male in the household, but also refers to the dominance of men in social or cultural systems. Feminist theory stresses that the structure of new-made cultural and political systems under patriarchy are totally command by men. (Wikipedia) (Castro, Ginette. American Feminism a contemporary history, p. 31.)Obviously, violence against women seem ed as normal under the development of dominant-submissive power relations.such that they have little or no independent status and transgressions outside the family and male authority expose them to swift retributions and confirm their vulnerability. Adams (1998)Researches demonstrated that patriarchy involves concepts of feminism and male domination in society and within the family. (Tang, 1999 Adam, 1998 Sugarmen and Frankel, 1996)The violence against women is the product of the be and complex values wherein women are considered as inferior and subordinate to men, in result male is allowed to view female partners as his properties, and handling it within the privacy and autonomy of the family. (United Nation, 1989)Adams (1998) agreed with Mama that women are strongly flash-frozen into the familial structure and hierarchic gender relations in the socializing process.Yllo also found that there is a positive correlation between more patriarchal social structure and higher level of women abuse. (Yllo, 1983, 1984) Research also found that traditional gender role soc