The experience of zen meditation on patients with generalized anxiety disorder in Taiwan

This study explored the experience of patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) undertaking a six week intervention of a Zen meditation programme in Taiwan. Mix-methods were used including the Revised State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (RSTAI), repeated focus groups, individual interviews, diaries and field notes. Heidegger’s interpretative phenomenology was adopted as a theoretical framework. Two groups of 9 and 12 patients (n=21) participated in the study. Three themes emerged from repeated focus groups: First ‘Expectation of Zen meditation regarding GAD symptoms included sub themes of ‘ambivalence towards meditation’, ‘crave a good sleep’, ‘stop thinking’ and ‘regain memory and concentration’. The second theme, ‘The process of Zen meditation’ included the sub themes of ‘struggling to reach a state of calm’, ‘signs of improvement’ and ‘an individual process’. The last theme, ‘The cultural beliefs regarding Zen meditation in Taiwan’ involved the ‘spiritual influence’ of Zen meditation practice. Four themes emerged from individual interviews. Firstly, ‘Separation’ referred to the issues that participants faced in dealing with the termination of the programme, including ‘concern about other participants’ and ‘examining the relationship between Zen meditation and self’. The second theme ‘Body experience of Zen meditation practice’ incorporated ‘body awareness’ and ‘preparing to practise Zen meditation’. The third theme, ‘States of mind while meditating’ consisted of ‘the state of engagement with real life’, ‘the state of detachment from real life’ and ‘the state of calm’. Lastly, ‘Benefits of Zen meditation practice’ incorporated the categories ‘less pressure with daily life’ and ‘more acceptance of being a GAD patient’. The RSTAI was administrated at baseline and post intervention and also at the two week follow-up of the Zen meditation programme. Neither the Trait Anxiety Score nor the State Anxiety Score showed significant differences between Groups 1 and 2 at baseline. This allowed the RSTAI data from the 2 groups to be merged.The results of 95% confidence interval for differences of both groups showed a significant improvement in the Trait Anxiety Score over time but not the State Anxiety Score. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge and associated literature regarding Zen meditation and GAD in three ways. Firstly, the findings confirmed that the essential or authentic traditional qualities of meditation should be addressed in meditation study. Secondly, the meaning of Zen meditation for the groups of GAD patients was revealed in the context of Taiwan society. How their lived experience of GAD shaped their understanding of Zen meditation was interpreted. Thirdly, a comprehensive understanding of Zen meditation is reported. The findings (including themes, i.e. diverse Zen meditation processes, body experiences, concepts of obstacles and spiritual influence) add to the current knowledge by providing insight derived from participants’ lived experiences

The acquisition of English articles by Chinese learners

Despite high frequency and early input, English articles (the, a, and the zero article Ø) remain a generally acknowledged marked feature for [–Article] Chinese learners. The purpose of this study was to investigate acquisition orders and underlying processes in terms of article accuracy and use by Chinese learners. The theoretical approach adopted here was Bickerton’s (1981) semantic wheel model, marked by the features, [±Specific Referent (±SR)] and [±Assumed Known to the Hearer (±HK)]. The measures employed for data analysis were SOC (Supplied in Obligatory Contexts), TLU (Target-Like Use), and UOC (Used in Obligatory Contexts). A total of 55 Mandarin Chinese speakers drawn from three proficiency groups (Advanced, Upper-Intermediate, and Lower-intermediate) participated in an article cloze test. ANOVA procedures along with Scheffé and Bonferroni follow-up tests were performed to identify the acquisition orders. The results show that SOC reveals an order of the = a > Ø, and TLU, the > a > Ø, across the groups. UOC indicates that TLU is a more reliable acquisition measure, and SOC serves better as an index of accuracy level. In addition, UOC also reveals that Ø goes through a flooding-then-trickling process, the experiences a U-shaped behavior highlighted by an overgeneralization stage, and a follows the by undergoing U-shaped development as well. Furthermore, the difficulties underlying acquisition processes were also identified: Chinese learners have difficulty distinguishing [±HK] (e.g., misuse of the for a or Ø) and [±Countability] (e.g., misuse of a for Ø, or Ø for a). This study sheds some light on article pedagogy in view of the acquisition orders, patterns in acquisition processes, and actual difficulties in article choice for Chinese learners

Phonon modes in InAs quantum dots

Phonon modes in spherical InAs quantum dots (QDs) with up to 11 855 atoms (about 8.5 nm in diameter) are calculated by using a valence force field model, and all the vibration frequencies and vibration amplitudes of the QDs are calculated directly from the lattice-dynamic matrix. The projection operators of the irreducible representations of the group theory are employed to reduce the computational intensity, which further allows us to investigate the quantum confinement effect of phonon modes with different symmetries. It is found that the size effects of phonon modes depend on the symmetry of the modes. For zinc-blende structure, the modes with A(1) symmetry has the strongest quantum confinement effect and the T-1 mode the weakest. There could be a crossover of symmetries of the highest frequencies from A(1) to T-2 as the size of the QDs decreases. The behavior of vibration amplitudes and vibration energies of phonon modes in different symmetries are also investigated in detail. These results provide microscopic details of the phonon properties of QDs that are important to the fundamental understanding and potential applications of semiconductor QDs

Switching LPV Control of an F-16 Aircraft via Controller State Reset

In flight control, the design objective and the aircraft dynamics may be different in low and high angle of attack regions. This paper presents a systematic switching Linear Parameter-varying LPV method to determine if it is practical to use for flight control designs over a wide angle of attack region. The approach is based on multiple parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions a family of LPV controllers are designed, and each of them is suitable for a specific parameter subspace. The state of the controller is reset to guarantee the stability requirement of the Lyapunov function when the switching event occurs. Two parameter-dependent switching logics, hysteresis switching and switching with average dwell times are examined. The proposed switching LPV control scheme is applied to an F-16 aircraft model with different design objectives and aircraft dynamics in low and high angle of attack regions. The nonlinear simulating results using both switching logics are compared

Frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-associated disease protein TDP-43 promotes dendritic branching

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>TDP-43 is an evolutionarily conserved RNA-binding protein implicated in the pathogenesis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), sporadic and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and possibly other neurodegenerative diseases. In diseased neurons, TDP-43 is depleted in the nucleus, suggesting a loss-of-function pathogenic mechanism. However, the normal function of TDP-43 in postmitotic neurons is largely unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we demonstrate that overexpression of <it>Drosophila </it>TDP-43 (dTDP-43) in vivo significantly increases dendritic branching of sensory neurons in <it>Drosophila </it>larvae. Loss of dTDP-43 function, either in a genetic null mutant or through RNAi knockdown, decreased dendritic branching. Further genetic analysis demonstrated a cell-autonomous role for dTDP-43 in dendrite formation. Moreover, human TDP-43 (hTDP-43) promoted dendritic branching in <it>Drosophila </it>neurons, and this function was attenuated by mutations associated with ALS.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings reveal an essential role for TDP-43 in dendritic structural integrity, supporting the notion that loss of normal TDP-43 function in diseased neurons may compromise neuronal connectivity before neuronal cell loss in FTD and ALS.</p

Linear-Parameter-Varying Antiwindup Compensation for Enhanced Flight Control Performance

Actuator saturation is one of the major issues of flight control in the high angle-of-attack region. This paper presents a saturation control scheme for linear parameter varyjing (LPV) systems from an antiwindup control perspective. The proposed control approach is advantageous from the implementation standpoint because it can be thought of as an augmented control algorithm to the existing control system. Moreover, the synthesis condition for an antiwindup compensator is formulated as a linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization problem and can be solved efficiently. We have applied te LPV antiwindup controller to an F-16 longitudinal autopilot control system design and compared it with the thrust vectoring control scheme. The nonlinear simulations show that an LPV antiwindup controller improves flight quality and offers advantages over thrust vectoring in a high angle-of-attack region

Protection of the Extracts of Lentinus edodes Mycelia against Carbon-Tetrachloride-Induced Hepatic Injury in Rats

Lentinus edodes is the medicinal macrofungus showing potential for therapeutic applications in infectious disorders including hepatitis. In an attempt to develop the agent for handling hepatic injury, we used the extracts of Lentinus edodes mycelia (LEM) to screen the effect on hepatic injury in rats induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Intraperitoneal administration of CCl4 not only increased plasma glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) but also decreased hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) levels in rats. Similar to the positive control silymarin, oral administration (three times daily) of this product (LEM) for 8 weeks significantly reduced plasma GOT and GPT. Also, the activities of antioxidant enzymes of SOD and GPx were elevated by LEM. in liver from CCl4-treated rats, indicating that mycelium can increase antioxidant-like activity. Moreover, the hepatic mRNA and protein levels of SOD and GPx were both markedly raised by LEM. The obtained results suggest that oral administration of the extracts of Lentinus edodes mycelia (LEM) has the protective effect against CCl4-induced hepatic injury in rats, mainly due to an increase in antioxidant-like action

Cultural Issues in Using the SF-36 Health Survey in Asia: Results from Taiwan

BACKGROUND: The feasibility of using the SF-36 in non-Western cultures is important for researchers seeking to understand cultural influences upon health status perceptions. This paper reports on the performance of the Taiwan version of the SF-36, including the implications of cultural influences. METHODS: A total of 1191 volunteered subjects from the general population answered the translated SF-36 Taiwan version, which was developed following IQOLA project protocols. RESULTS: Results from tests of scaling assumptions and reliability generally were satisfactory. Convergent validity, as assessed by comparing the SF-36 to a mental health oriented inventory, was acceptable. Results of principal components analysis were similar to US results for many scales. However, differences were seen for the Vitality scale which was a stronger measure of mental health than physical health in Taiwan. Results are compared to those from other Asian studies and the U.S. CONCLUSION: The results raise important questions regarding cultural influences in international studies of health status assessment. Further research into the conceptualization and components of mental health in Asian countries is warranted

Fano Effect through Parallel-coupled Double Coulomb Islands

By means of the non-equilibrium Green function and equation of motion method, the electronic transport is theoretically studied through a parallel-coupled double quantum dots(DQD) in the presence of the on-dot Coulomb correlation, with an emphasis put on the quantum interference. It has been found that in the Coulomb blockage regime, the quantum interference between the bonding and antiboding DQD states or that between their Coulomb blockade counterparts may result in the Fano resonance in the conductance spectra, and the Fano peak doublet may be observed under certain non-equilibrium condition. The possibility of manipulating the Fano lineshape is predicted by tuning the dot-lead coupling and magnetic flux threading the ring connecting the dots and leads. Similar to the case without Coulomb interaction, the direction of the asymmetric tail of Fano lineshape can be flipped by the external field. Most importantly, by tuning the magnetic flux, the function of four relevant states can be interchanged, giving rise to the swap effect, which might play a key role as a qubit in the quantum computation.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure