Philosophy at the Beginning of the 21st Century

À la dernière moitié du 20 e siècle, la postmodernité a rejeté entièrement la notion de réalité objective et celui de vérité. On doit s'en souvenir que la vérité en dépend de ce qu’il montre et s'il n'y avait aucune réalité objective il n'y avait aucune vérité non plus. Mais aujourd’hui, au commencem ent du 21 e siècle, est survenue une nouvelle vue appelée la post post -modernité qui est un retour subtil à la modernité et qui tende trouver des choses fermes dans la réalité et des certitudes dans la pensée. Ainsi, ce courent reconnaît que notre expérien ce nous enseigne qu'il y a un monde réel qui existe indépendamment de nous, indépendamment de nos expériences, de nos pensées et de notre langue. À ce moment il semble qu'il y a une opportunité de revenir à une position réaliste, qui a du sens tant dans la science que dans la théologie. Elle fournit une vision du monde qui se veut correspondante à la réalité, cohérente en lui -même et capable à répondre systématiquement aux questions de la vie

The superconducting state of the high-transition temperature superconductors: Experimental basis

Experiments on the high-T(sub c) cuprate superconductors continue to narrow the possible theoretical explanations of the phenomenon. Experimental evidence to date points to a BCS-like state, with pairs in singlet s-states, the familiar gap in the excitation spectrum, type 2 behavior in a magnetic field and a normal state with fermi liquid origins. Several other features of the superconducting state in the cuprates, however, appear to differ from those of conventional alloy superconductors (these relate to the detailed structure of the gap and to the nature of the coupling mechanism). Recent experiments have helped clarify what these differences are, and together with the earlier experiments, they now impose still stronger constraints on theories of these superconductors. These and other developments will be reviewed

Size at Maturity of Female American Lobsters from an Estuarine and Coastal Population

The size at which female lobsters reach sexual maturity was determined for two populations that inhabit waters along the coast of New Hampshire. One group was captured in the Great Bay estuary, where water temperatures in the summer typically average between 17 C and 20 C. The other gorup of lobsters resided in coastal waters, near the Isles of Shoals, where the water temperature was much colder during the summer (11-15 C). Maturity was assessed using criteria that included the following: ovarian classification; abdominal width/carapce length (CL) ratio; and the size frequency distribution of berried females. All the techniques yielded similar results and consistently demonstrated that female lobsters in the estuary matured at a smaller size than those in colder coastal waters. The smallest mature females from Great Bay were 72 mm in CL, with 50% reaching sexual maturity by 83 mm CL and all becoming mature by 89 mm CL. The difference in the proportion of mature lobsters in the estuarine versus coastal populations was much greater in the smaler size classes than in the larger size claases, suggesting a mixing of the two populations, most likely due to females from Great Bay migrating into coastal waters

Objective dysphonia quantification in vocal fold paralysis: comparing nonlinear with classical measures

Clinical acoustic voice recording analysis is usually performed using classical perturbation measures including jitter, shimmer and noise-to-harmonic ratios. However, restrictive mathematical limitations of these measures prevent analysis for severely dysphonic voices. Previous studies of alternative nonlinear random measures addressed wide varieties of vocal pathologies. Here, we analyze a single vocal pathology cohort, testing the performance of these alternative measures alongside classical measures.

We present voice analysis pre- and post-operatively in unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) patients and healthy controls, patients undergoing standard medialisation thyroplasty surgery, using jitter, shimmer and noise-to-harmonic ratio (NHR), and nonlinear recurrence period density entropy (RPDE), detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and correlation dimension. Systematizing the preparative editing of the recordings, we found that the novel measures were more stable and hence reliable, than the classical measures, on healthy controls.

RPDE and jitter are sensitive to improvements pre- to post-operation. Shimmer, NHR and DFA showed no significant change (p > 0.05). All measures detect statistically significant and clinically important differences between controls and patients, both treated and untreated (p < 0.001, AUC > 0.7). Pre- to post-operation, GRBAS ratings show statistically significant and clinically important improvement in overall dysphonia grade (G) (AUC = 0.946, p < 0.001).

Re-calculating AUCs from other study data, we compare these results in terms of clinical importance. We conclude that, when preparative editing is systematized, nonlinear random measures may be useful UVFP treatment effectiveness monitoring tools, and there may be applications for other forms of dysphonia.
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The Big Lebowski: The Dude’s Lessons in Law and Leadership for Military and National Security Attorneys

The Big Lebowski is a cultural phenomenon that has prompted academic research into the nature of cult cinema, provided fodder for a host of law review quotes, and motivated a tradition of fan festivals and midnight screenings. However, most viewers do not realize that The Big Lebowski also serves as an engaging training tool for military and national security attorneys. Disguised as an impish play on film noir and hard-boiled detective fiction, The Big Lebowski’s unpretentious treatment of delicate topics contains poignant lessons for military and national security attorneys that include: (1) the risks facing national security attorneys when they lose focus on their professional and moral responsibilities, (2) the unexpected ways military attorneys should expect to encounter mental health concerns and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), (3) the importance of values and how they impact the success of a national security legal office, and (4) the role of the attorney in military operations. Military and national security attorneys who adopt the lessons of The Big Lebowski will be better lawyers and leaders

RECENT COST INCREASES: THEIR FUTURE IMPACTS ON AGRICULTURE

Demand and Price Analysis,

Serum and synovial fluid lipidomic profiles predict obesity-associated osteoarthritis, synovitis, and wound repair

High-fat diet-induced obesity is a major risk factor for osteoarthritis (OA) and diminished wound healing. The objective of this study was to determine the associations among serum and synovial fluid lipid levels with OA, synovitis, adipokine levels, and wound healing in a pre-clinical obese mouse model of OA. Male C57BL/6 J mice were fed either a low-fat (10% kcal) or one of three high-fat (HF, 60% kcal) diets rich in saturated fatty acids (SFAs), ω-6 or ω-3 polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs). OA was induced by destabilization of the medial meniscus. Mice also received an ear punch for evaluating wound healing. Serum and synovial fluid were collected for lipidomic and adipokine analyses. We demonstrated that the serum levels of ω-3 PUFAs were negatively correlated with OA and wound size, but positively correlated with adiponectin levels. In contrast, most ω-6 PUFAs exhibited positive correlations with OA, impaired healing, and inflammatory adipokines. Interestingly, levels of pentadecylic acid (C15:0, an odd-chain SFA) and palmitoleic acid were inversely correlated with joint degradation. This study extends our understanding of the links of FAs with OA, synovitis and wound healing, and reports newly identified serum and synovial fluid FAs as predictive biomarkers of OA in obesity