Witchcraft and African development

Impressive investment and growth figures and commercial write-ups enthusing about ‘Africa rising up’, ‘the continent of the future’, and so on, obscure the poverty, illiteracy, poor health and other hardships afflicting the vast majority of African people. Why has massive so-called development and technical ‘aid’ not created the expected dynamic, autonomous economic progress? A blind eye is delicately being turned to the decisive role of people – more specifically, the cultural element. Notwithstanding good intentions, outsiders seeking to promote development assume that black Africans think and act like they only need more education, training and finance in order to ‘catch up’. Outsiders easily forget that since time immemorial, Africans have developed and cherished worldviews and cultures of their own. While these are by no means immutable and do adapt to changing needs and outside influences, Africans refuse to cast off overnight the heritage that makes them the people they are. This paper examines the impact of witchcraft as an integral feature of traditional culture on African existence, notably community life, religion, politics, the law, and economic practice. It stresses the significance of traditional society's powerful egalitarian impulses as well as its profound conviction that all things – goods, wealth, well-being and life force – are in a strictly limited supply that cannot be increased, but can only be redistributed by force or through magical manipulation. While modern life gradually weakens the influence of witchcraft beliefs – in Europe these flourished well into the 18th century – the exasperation associated with Africa's headlong urbanisation actually bolsters these beliefs.     

某高低机蜗轮磨损寿命计算研究

针对某型火炮高低机蜗轮蜗杆因磨损产生不自锁的现状,通过分析蜗轮表面磨损形貌,采用Archard磨损理论,根据蜗轮蜗杆传动的实际情况,推导出磨损计算公式并结合有限元方法,对蜗轮的磨损寿命进行计算,为预测火炮故障和实现精确化保障打下基础.     

难加工材料3种优化指标的应用特性

采用刀具耐用度、切削里程、材料去除总量对同一组难加工材料进行正交试验,结果表明:采用刀具耐用度作为评价指标进行优化时,其结果往往是对应于最小的切削用量,高的刀具耐用度并不对应于高的切削能力和切削效率,优化结果存在较大的局限性;切削里程和材料去除总量在实际生产中分别代表已加工表面的形成量和总切削量,可以较好地反映切削参数与应用效果之间的关系,作为评价指标时,两者较刀具耐用度的评价更为有效。不同指标的评价结果不同,应用时需根据实际情况进行有针对性的选择。     

基于变转速的柴油抗磨性评定方法

以MRS-1J型四球摩擦磨损试验机为平台,提出了一种变转速条件下柴油抗磨性评定方法。利用VC＋＋对试验机软件进行了改进,增加了负荷-转速程序控制功能,实现了试验机自由设置转速、负荷的变化范围、变化速率和变化模式。通过正交试验方法确定了最佳试验条件,发现试验时间3N1min,负荷11N2N,油温60℃,转速在1 min内由100 r/min线性上升至20N3r/min再线性下降至100 r/min并依次循环时,该试验方法具有良好的重复性和区分性。在与高频往复试验机法的对比中,发现该方法的磨斑直径变化率大于高频往复试验机法,证明变转速四球机法优于高频往复试验机法。     

发射装药非稳态温度场仿真

弹药在长期贮存过程中,极易受环境温度和湿度的作用,使发射装药出现热分解、裂解、结霜等,严重影响弹药装药的贮存可靠性;在射击试验中,发射药温度也会对弹道性能产生极大的影响。由于不允许对弹药进行破坏性开孔,因此借助Ansys的热分析模块,对发射装药非稳态温度场进行仿真研究,获取发射装药在不同环境条件下的温度场及不同节点的温度变化规律,为弹药的贮存、试验提供一定的参考价值。     

Reduction of global effects on vehicles after IED detonations

Global effects caused by the detonation of an IED near a military vehicle induce subsequent severe acceleration effects on the vehicle occupants. Two concepts to minimize these global effects were developed, with the help of a combined method based on a scaled experimental technology and numerical simulations. The first concept consists in the optimization of the vehicle shape to reduce the momentum transfer and thus the occupant loading. Three scaled V-shaped vehicles with different ground clearances were built and compared to a reference vehicle equipped with a flat floor. The second concept, called dynamic impulse compensation (DIC), is based on a momentum compensation technique. The principal possibility of this concept was demonstrated on a scaled vehicle. In addition, the numerical simulations have been performed with generic full size vehicles including dummy models, proving the capability of the DIC technology to reduce the occupant loading.     

基于类成员后向切片的面向对象程序回归测试

程序切片是一种重要的程序分析方法,类成员级粒度的切片技术目前仅仅有Tip提出的类层次切片技术.Tip提出的类层次切片技术其分析基础是Rossie-Friedman的类层次框架,但主要用于面向对象程序的优化,并不适用于回归测试.本文基于Rossie-Friedman的类层次框架提出类成员后向切片方法,并提出一个覆盖类的方法一级的回归测试策略.     

铁路区间信号系统测试评估平台——自动闭塞移频信号的数据采集及验证

铁路区间信号系统测试评估平台中数据采集和验证子系统研究移频信号的数据采集、A/D转换和信号显示,移频信号的处理是对被测系统发送和接收的移频信号的载频和调制低频鉴频鉴幅,进行验证,为测试评估平台对被测系统的功能、可靠性和安全性评估作必要的数据准备.     

软件测试的故障模型

故障模型是测试的基础,也是一个测试方法成熟的重要标志.软件的错误表现为2个方面:①计算结果错误;②系统"死机".导致第1类错误的故障相对来说是比较容易检测的.导致系统死机的故障其后果是严重的,这类故障由于一般其检测概率较小,也往往难以检测.死循环故障是最常见的能引起系统死机的故障,但这种故障由于其复杂性难以对其模型化,同时在许多情况下,死循环故障也比较容易暴露.对C 中几种能导致系统死机的典型故障进行了分析,这种故障的检测其意义重大,将这些典型的故障组合在一起,就构成了面向软件系统死机故障的故障模型.     

Designing acceptance sampling schemes for life testing with mixed censoring

Mixed censoring is useful extension of Type I and Type II censoring and combines some advantages of both types of censoring. This paper proposes a general Bayesian framework for designing a variable acceptance sampling scheme with mixed censoring. A general loss function which includes the sampling cost, the time‐consuming cost, the salvage value, and the decision loss is employed to determine the Bayes risk and the corresponding optimal sampling plan. An explicit expression of the Bayes risk is derived. The new model can easily be adapted to create life testing models for different distributions. Specifically, two commonly used distributions including the exponential distribution and the Weibull distribution are considered with a special decision loss function. We demonstrate that the proposed model is superior to models with Type I or Type II censoring. Numerical examples are reported to illustrate the effectiveness of the method proposed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004