Pure Theoretical Research Research Articles

Biofeedback: Can it be used as an Assessment Tool?

Biofeedback forms an integral part of Complementary and Alternate Medicine (CAM). It acts as a self-regulation technique through which individuals voluntarily learn to control what they believe are involuntary body processes. It records physiological signals using sensors and converts them into meaningful visual and auditory cues that provide feedback about physiological responses through a computer screen. It has been widely used as an intervention tool since the time of its development. The utility and effectiveness of biofeedback are not only restricted to illness but also to enhancing health and well-being. The biofeedback mechanism relies on two primary principles: Psychophysiological Mechanism and Operant Conditioning Mechanism. Applying the same mechanisms, biofeedback can also be used as an assessment tool. It may be used in research studies to assess the efficacy of a particular intervention at various data points and also be used in clinical practice to assess the improvement in the patient, which in turn will be a self-reinforcement for the patient. Thus, research in biofeedback as an assessment tool besides an effective intervention measure is warranted in both clinical studies and pure theoretical research.

Review of the Hydrogeological Controls on Coalbed Methane (CBM) and Development Trends

Hydrogeological conditions can control the generation, preservation, enrichment, and production of coalbed methane (CBM) in the field; however, research on these impacts is insufficient, resulting in the limitation of the development of coalbed methane. This paper summarizes the current research status and development trends of the effect of hydrogeology on CBM using methods such as mathematical statistics, literature analysis, well logging, and hydrochemical analysis. The results indicate that it is beneficial for the generation of secondary biogenic gases in low-rank coal seams under the situations like active hydrodynamic conditions with a salinity less than 1000 mg/L, a pH range from 5.9 to 8.8, or a range of oxidation-reduction potential from -540 mV to -590 mV. The abnormally high temperature due to the magmatic-hydrothermal fluids accelerates the metamorphism of coal rocks, leading to the promotion of the generation of thermogenic gases. When the coalbed structural conditions of one area are similar to the depositional conditions in that area, the CBM is accumulated if the conditions of that area meet the following criteria: the water type is NaHCO3, the salinity is greater than 1500 mg/L, the desulfurization coefficient is less than 1, and the sodium-chloride coefficient is less than 10. The stable isotope analysis of CBM well-produced water shows that the δD values in the groundwater shift to the left of the global meteoric water line, indicating that the produced water comes from atmospheric precipitation. In the CBM enrichment zone, the area with a relatively high salinity and a low sodium-chloride coefficient is the high-production area. Based on our study, three high CBM-production patterns are summarized: coalbed structure-hydraulic trapping, fold limb-fracture development, and syncline core-water stagnation. Additionally, four development trends of the control of hydrogeology on CBM are proposed: transformation from qualitative evaluation to quantitative evaluation, from a singular evaluation standard to multiple evaluation standards, from static evaluation to dynamic evaluation, and from pure theoretical research to theoretical guidance on production practices.

Secure Multi-Party Computation: Theory, practice and applications

Secure Multi-Party Computation (SMPC) is a generic cryptographic primitive that enables distributed parties to jointly compute an arbitrary functionality without revealing their own private inputs and outputs. Since Yao’s seminal work in 1982, 30 years of research on SMPC has been conducted, proceeding from pure theoretical research into real-world applications. Recently, the increasing prevalence of the newly emerging technologies such as cloud computing, mobile computing and the Internet of Thing has resulted in a re-birth of SMPC’s popularity. This has occurred mainly because, as a generic tool for computing on private data, SMPC has a natural advantage in solving security and privacy issues in these areas. Accordingly, many application-oriented SMPC protocols have been constructed. This paper presents a comprehensive survey on the theoretical and practical aspects of SMPC protocols. Specifically, we start by demonstrating the underlying concepts of SMPC, including its security requirements and basic construction techniques. Then, we present the research advances regarding construction techniques for generic SMPC protocols, and also the cutting-edge approaches to cloud-assisted SMPC protocols. Then, we summarize the concrete application-oriented protocols that are currently available, and finally, we present a discussion of the current literature and conclude this survey.

To Gastric Cancer Patients, Diet Calls - On Living Demands by Gastric Cancer Patients

Background: My father died with gastric cancer about a decade ago. I missed him a lot in my daily life. It seems like a surprising opportunity for me to join the research on postcancer living for gastric cancer patients, through which I could share what I experienced as a caregiver to my father and delve more into issues pertaining to the details of the disease to make it more understandable and to make more demands satisfied. Gastric cancer ranked 7th (1.74%) among individual cases in HOPE Foundation for Cancer Care last year. Not as common as breast, colorectal or lung cancers, gastric cancer triggers more apparent side effects from surgeries, radiation treatment, and chemotherapy, which exhaust less stamina and compromise less life quality. And the condition is even worse when there is frugal number of resources in medical units and community health care systems. Thus the importance of demands for stomach cancer patients is critical. Aim: This research depicts the dietary influences and changes in regard to gastric cancer and treatment. Methods: By means of observing focus groups by 26 gastric cancer patients attending three times respectively. Results: These 26 gastric cancer patients experience extreme sensations such as “every gram counts” or “reaching to the tipping point of either too full or not enough “. The patients shared some precious novel dietary ideas like chopping or mashing, stewed rice, fluid-and-non-fluid separation for better digestion, or finding suitable dietary preferences through trial-error strategies and so on, most of which can not be derived merely by pure theoretical research rather than personal sharing and interactions with detailed “bloody cruel” living experiences. The information is right to the bulls-eye, comprehensible and advisable for coming dietary strategies. Conclusion: There´s only one word to describe the living conditions of a gastric cancer patient: diet. When the access and awareness to dietary information for gastric cancer patients are very limited, the aim for field practice lies in knowing how to have those patients to eat, and eat richly, and happily. Firstly, we can provide patients with places for group talking, in which they design creative and tailor-made cuisine for their own by trial-errors. Secondly, to those who suffer gastric cancer, it is fairly inconvenient to eat out, finding nowhere to get the right food for their specific dietary needs. Therefore, a “community gourmet spots”, a gathered sharing for food information, is suggested among patients to offer more choices to each other and to make healthier dieting environments. Lastly, more dietary consulting stations ought to be set in hospitals and community service centers for gastric cancer patients to acquire the right food information lest the disease adaptation inclines due to malnutrition.

Impacts of bench blasting vibration on the stability of the surrounding rock masses of roadways

In the process of open-pit and underground mining, the seismic wave generated by open-pit blasting can influence the stability of the surrounding rock masses on a roadway. It is easy to destabilize the surrounding rock, which seriously affects the stability of the roadway and the safety of the underground mining operation. The effects of the blasting vibration on the surrounding rock of the roadway are difficult to obtain with field data and pure theoretical research is relatively difficult to conduct. In this study, we used China’s Anjialing Coal Mine and its combined open-underground mining as the research site and used numerical simulations and field observations to analyze the roadway lining, the surrounding loose rock, the anchor, and the stability of the surrounding loose rock before and after blasting to evaluate the effects of the blasting vibration. In addition, the stress transfer of the anchor and lining before and after blasting is analyzed and the performance and safety of the anchor and lining are evaluated in order to determine the mode of propagation of the seismic wave in open-pit blasting. The results show that the vibration velocity at each measuring point is less than 15 cm/s and that the vibration peak of each measuring point is attenuated with an increase in the distance from the point to the explosion source. The blasting vibration can affect the surrounding rock to various degrees in a specific range and the redistribution of the surrounding rock does not result in an increase in the surrounding loose rock. The influence of blasting on the stress of the anchor decreases with the distance from the blasting source. The results of this study can predict and control the abrupt structural and local failure caused by blasting to ensure the stability of the underground structure and the surrounding rock and to maintain the safety of the construction process.

An Overview of Ecological Research Conducted on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is the highest biogeographic unit on earth and widely regarded as its ‘third pole’. The high-altitude, frigid and arid alpine ecosystems that form the Plateau are extremely sensitive to climate change and human disturbance. Unsurprisingly, the Plateau is therefore a global epicenter of ecological and global change research and provides the ideal conditions and context to study the impacts of global change. Ecological research conducted on the Plateau can be partitioned into four developmental and chronological phases, beginning with the gathering of primitive knowledge and progressing towards a description of mechanistic processes. Throughout the course of Plateau research paradigm shifts from standalone surveys of biogeographic patterns to fixed monitoring and mechanism research; from isolated population, community and ecosystem approaches to more integrated, multidisciplinary research; and from pure theoretical research to an emphasis on effective resource utilization and sustainable development. Future ecological research will likely pay increasing attention to quantifying the impacts of climate warming and human activity on ecosystem change, and climate and ecosystem feedback processes. Multidisciplinary and comprehensive research should be strengthened amongst fields such as ecosystem ecology, physical geography, environmental science and remote sensing in order to support climate change adaptation and sustainable development in this fragile and unique region.

A Sociology of Translation: From Text World to Life World

A sociology of translation is not a pure theoretical research nor a logical deduction, but an applied research facing the life world. A sociology of translation calls for new subject, methodology and concepts to comply with it, so that it can surpass the text world. A sociology of translation centers on the social nature of translation, aiming at promoting reciprocity between translation and society.

On the Problems of Geography and the Tasks of Popularizing Geographical Knowledge

AbstractA Moscow University geographer who advocates a unity of geography uses the medium of the Znaniye [Knowledge] Society, an organization for the popularization of scientific knowledge and communist ideology, to review the basic problems confronting geography as a research discipline. He reviews the historical sequence of philosophic concepts relating to the man-environment system in an attempt to justify his approach to the system as one in which both natural and social laws operate. Anuchin stresses the need for pure theoretical research in geography and polemicizes with those who seek prompt practical results. He restates his definition of the geographical environment as that part of the earth's landscape sphere in which nature and society interact as two parts of a single whole governed by distinctive laws. The metachronous character of development of the landscape sphere, with several parts formed at various times, is cited as an example of such a universal law. Anuchin agrees with the authors of...