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。     

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。     

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.     

《秦腔》中的民间话语探析

话语作为文学存在方式之一,与政治、权力等有着紧密的关联。话语方式的选择,体现了一种创作姿态、一种立场。贾平凹创作的长篇小说《秦腔》中所体现的民间话语,主要表现在“民间话语身份的确认——乡村体验的建构”、“作为媒介的载体——方言、俚俗的介入”和“难以割舍的情怀——民间文化认同的困惑”几方面,呈现出独特的内在意蕴、精神价值及审美取向。     

竞争失效产品恒应力加速寿命试验优化新方法

对加速寿命试验设计优化的相关知识进行研究分析,确定以竞争失效产品恒应力加速寿命试验为应用背景。在对加速寿命试验统计分析深入研究的基础上,通过分析方案要素、约束条件等建立优化目标函数,提出基于模拟退火算法的优化方法和具体实现思路。最后通过实例验证方法的可行性和实用性。     

导弹服役年限建模与分析

影响导弹服役年限的主要因素有自然因素、技术因素以及经济因素。合理地确定导弹的服役年限,是减少军费开支、降低导弹全寿命费用的有效途径。从导弹服役年限的概念入手,在提出用经济寿命法确定导弹的服役年限的基础上,通过数学分析,建立经济模型和经济比较模型,确定了导弹服役年限,并结合实例进行了仿真和验证,从而证明了模型的实际应用价值。     

“气”范畴新论——兼谈“天人合一”

中国古代气论哲学建立的是"天人合一"的生命哲学.在SARS给人类敲响警钟之时,深刻反思中国古人的"天人合一"思想,对人与自然的和谐发展具有重要借鉴意义.