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.     

火炮水弹试射内弹道学分析计算

根据水弹试射原理及水弹试射实践经验,应用火炮内弹道学理论,建立火炮水弹试射内弹道学模型,分析水弹试射的影响因素,并以某炮水弹试射为例进行仿真计算和膛压测试,计算结果与试验结果基本相符,为新型火炮水弹试射的参数获取提供理论依据.     

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。     

携带不同毁伤元的舰炮弹丸对反舰导弹的毁伤仿真分析

舰炮反导技术是当前各国海军研究的热点,其中舰炮弹药的毁伤能力是反导效果评估的重点之一。以携带不同毁伤元的舰炮弹丸在近炸模式下对反舰导弹的毁伤为研究方向,阐述了反舰导弹物理等效模型的建立方法及原则,分别针对两种不同的毁伤元（破片及离散杆）对导弹战斗部舱的毁伤进行了有限元仿真及毁伤效果分析。本研究对于进一步对反舰导弹的毁伤效果分析以及提高舰炮弹丸的毁伤能力提供了理论参考。     

舰炮武器系统最大有效射程研究

舰炮武器系统最大有效射程是指系统在规定的射击条件下,对规定目标,使用规定弹药射击时能达到规定射击效力指标要求的最大作用距离。系统使用不同的弹药对付不同类型目标,最大有效射程是不同的。本文界定了舰炮武器系统最大射程和最大有效射程的关系,从舰炮武器系统弹丸存速、毁伤能力、系统精度及系统稳定性等方面入手,分析了影响系统对空和对海(岸)最大有效射程的各种因素,并提出了确定最大有效射程的方法和准则,为舰炮武器系统设计及使用提供了有力的理论基础。     

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。     

炮射盘旋侦察弹气动特性研究

通过对炮射侦察弹盘旋飞行质点弹道方程组的模型仿真,依据侦察弹战术、技术指标的要求,计算、分析和比较了不同升力系数下弹丸盘旋飞行时的弹道图形,结果表明在升阻比为3 8442时,侦察弹的气动布局最为理想。     

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     

Properties of some stochastic orders: A unified study

The notions of the likelihood ratio order of degree s (s ≥ 0) are introduced for both continuous and discrete integer‐valued random variables. The new orders for s = 0, 1, and 2 correspond to the likelihood ratio, hazard rate, and mean residual life orders. We obtain some basic properties of the new orders and their up shifted stochastic orders, and derive some closure properties of them. Such a study is meaningful because it throws an important light on the understanding of the properties of the likelihood ratio, hazard rate, and mean residual life orders. On the other hand, the properties of the new orders have potential applications. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004.