In recent years, flash flood disasters have occurred frequently in southwest China due to the increased frequency of extreme climate events. To solve this problem, great efforts have been made in studying the process ...In recent years, flash flood disasters have occurred frequently in southwest China due to the increased frequency of extreme climate events. To solve this problem, great efforts have been made in studying the process of flash flood. However, little attention was paid on bearing body of hazard, the clusters of buildings. Thus the real disaster mechanism of flash flood remains unclear.Accordingly, based on the experiments of artificial flash floods in a conceptual solid model, this paper focuses on the flood-impacted inundation characteristics of the building clusters at different locations of the gully model, in order to obtain a better understanding of the disaster process and the interaction between the flash floods and building clusters. The results showed that, in a typical smallscale flash flood gully with hot and dry climate, 1)clusters of buildings on an alluvial fan could reduce about 35% of the flooding area by blocking the diffusion of the flood to the depression areas, and could also promote the deposition in lower reaches of the river channel by blocking the overbank flow from going back into the channel, making the width-depth ratio of the channel larger. 2) The flash flood rates of disaster and hazard on the alluvial fan are generally higher than that of the inner gully. For the inner gully,buildings located on the beaches along the lower river and the transitional areas of the straight channel and channel bends can easily be affected because of their lower elevations. For the alluvial fan, buildings nearby the meanders suffer the greatest impacts because of bank collapsing and flooding. 3) The safe vertical distance from a building to the river channel is 13 m for the buildings in the inner gully under extreme floods. Below this threshold, the smaller the vertical distance is, the greater the risk exposure is. For the buildings on the alluvial fan, especially for the buildings near the concave bank of the top rush point,the horizontal distance is more important, and the safe value is 80 m under extreme floods.展开更多
Bazin favored every means to increase the "reality coefficient" in cinema. He specially prized cinema showing events integrally, what means, on the one hand, to show simultaneously and fully all the characters and a...Bazin favored every means to increase the "reality coefficient" in cinema. He specially prized cinema showing events integrally, what means, on the one hand, to show simultaneously and fully all the characters and all the objects pertaining to an event, and on the other to show the event integrally as it develops in time. Additionally Bazin showed that such a procedure reduces the purely literary component in cinema, and, correspondingly, increases its illusory force--as to the fictional reality presented. Yet, Bazin's work is not systematic, giving us brilliant insights scattered through many essays. Following Bazin's main idea, this presentation attempts to systematically discuss the illusory potential of the shot presenting an event integrally as compared with the imaginary, that is, literary character introduced in cinema by suggesting an event by means of montage and fragmentary shots. We proceed by means of a detailed consideration of the belief-structure of the aesthetic experience corresponding to the single shot integrally showing an event and to montage suggesting an event by means of fragmentary shots. The core of the presentation lies in defining the concept of aesthetic belief as the propositional attitude having the structure accepting that P without believing that P is the case. We will carefully distinguish that structure in the case of illusion from the case of imagination as well as from illusion as sensory-based deception.展开更多
In this writing, I reconstruct the Principle of Complementarity in Quantum Mechanics, elaborated by Niels Bohr, and the conception of objectivity implied in it (and in Bohr's writings). Then, I connect it with the ...In this writing, I reconstruct the Principle of Complementarity in Quantum Mechanics, elaborated by Niels Bohr, and the conception of objectivity implied in it (and in Bohr's writings). Then, I connect it with the epistemological pragmatism of the philosopher Richard Rorty. My aim is to reinterpret some issues of this quantum description that concern the category of objectivity from the Rortian perspective in a plausible way. This allows me to connect in a positive and a negative sense some quantum (and Bohrian) assumptions to the Rortian perspective, but mainly, it allows to reconsider the framework of scientific objects from the modern perspective to a new pragmatist and anti-essentialist point of view.展开更多
Assessing probabilities for relevant and sometimes unique events in real-world decision situations can be problematic. This paper elucidates a 2-step process for assigning probabilities to relevant events enabling a r...Assessing probabilities for relevant and sometimes unique events in real-world decision situations can be problematic. This paper elucidates a 2-step process for assigning probabilities to relevant events enabling a rational decision process to supersede decision choices based only on a gut feeling. After assessing probabilities the decision maker can confirm or reverse a gut feeling choice using expected values for each available act and traditional decision theory methodology. A simple example involving a buy now or buy later situation with market uncertainty illustrates the process for typical yes or no decisions.展开更多
Expressions of emotion in the media, especially in the context of news, are often criticized as promoting irrational attitudes. For supporters of this kind of criticism, rather than addressing such emotional sensitivi...Expressions of emotion in the media, especially in the context of news, are often criticized as promoting irrational attitudes. For supporters of this kind of criticism, rather than addressing such emotional sensitivity, journalism should be objective, appealing to the rationality of the public. Anger, indignation, enthusiasm, and expressions of joy or sadness should not have part in public debates. From this perspective, rationality and emotions are opposed, the former being fundamental for the constitution of the public sphere, while the latter falls into the category of inner impulses. While Kant denied any sort of rationality to emotions, Gustave Lebon attributed emotional attitudes to crowds rather than to a public. In a crowd, emotions spread like an epidemic through a kind of contagion. The present study is based on a contrasting perspective and focuses on the rationality of emotions', whether in philosophy (Nussbaum), sociology (Paperman, Aranguren 2014; Livet 2002), or psychology (Krant-Gruber). Oddly enough, these different approaches do not seem to have affected media studies where, belief in the irrationality of emotions, still dominates analyses of media coverage of natural or industrial catastrophes, wars, or terrorist attacks. Instead of considering the nature of emotions, or the question of whether they actually corrupt the objectivity of journalism and the supposed rationality of public debates, I will seek to develop a pragmatist approach to the question of what, emotions actually do. In fact, the idea of emotions spreading contagiously had been disputed since the 18th century when Adam Smith asked how a British newspaper reader could be affected by an earthquake happening in China. Suffering from a distance, says Adam Smith, is not the product of some kind of contagion. If we want to understand this sort of feeling, we have to imagine an inner moral spectator inside of every human being Oddly enough, Adam Smith considers emotions to be moral feelings. To feel horrified by the consequences of an earthquake, or to feel indignant about the death of innocent victims, are moral attitudes. In this respect, they are rational, but the feelings of indignation or horror also include bodily reactions. We scream, put our hands over our mouths; we blush, have tears in our eyes; we feel our heartbeat accelerate etc. These bodily reactions seem impulsive and entirely subjective, but to what extent can we say that they are rational or moral?展开更多
Previously, the military establishment has been the primary developer and user of micro technologies associated with unmanned systems. As these technologies become available commercially, a need exists to integrate th...Previously, the military establishment has been the primary developer and user of micro technologies associated with unmanned systems. As these technologies become available commercially, a need exists to integrate the use of the technology into local or regional public safety and homeland security incidents. The purpose of this presentation is to explain several key factors to consider when using micro technologies and unmanned systems in support of public safety and homeland security officials. Real time information is critical to the decision making process for public safety and homeland security officials to make assessments and quickly resolve crisis situations. Unmanned micro-vehicles and micro technologies are well suited to remotely observe, gather essential information, and immediately relay it to incident responders. These technologies can provide extremely important support during responses to hostage situations, hazardous environments, search and rescue, natural disasters, border patrol and many others. The true benefit is having remote resources providing real time support to incident responders. This paper discusses the use of several different types of micro-vehicle platforms in public safety scenarios and their use of associated technologies such as GPS (Global Positioning System) autopilot, communication, and sensor devices.展开更多
This paper reviews the early development of design requirements for seismic events in USA early developing nuclear electric generating fleet. Notable safety studies,including WASH-1400,Sandia Siting Study and the NURE...This paper reviews the early development of design requirements for seismic events in USA early developing nuclear electric generating fleet. Notable safety studies,including WASH-1400,Sandia Siting Study and the NUREG1150 probabilistic risk study,are briefly reviewed in terms of their relevance to extreme accidents arising from seismic and other severe accident initiators. Specific characteristic about the nature of severe accidents in nuclear power plant (NPP) are reviewed along with present day state-of-art analysis methodologies (methods for estimation of leakages and consequences of releases (MELCOR) and MELCOR accident consequence code system (MACCS)) that are used to evaluate severe accidents and to optimize mitigative and protective actions against such accidents. It is the aim of this paper to make nuclear operating nations aware of the risks that accompany a much needed energy resource and to identify some of the tools,techniques and landmark safety studies that serve to make the technology safer and to maintain vigilance and adequate safety culture for the responsible management of this valuable but unforgiving technology.展开更多
Groundwater as an alternative source still does not contribute to the water supply in area of Parit Raja because of the limitation of water availability in the ground. This lacking of groundwater could be caused by th...Groundwater as an alternative source still does not contribute to the water supply in area of Parit Raja because of the limitation of water availability in the ground. This lacking of groundwater could be caused by the circumstance that the top layer of soil is dominated by compacted clay around 2 meters in which its permeability is small, so the water is difficult to infiltrate the ground. The recharge well technique was designed based on the flat area problems, layer of real condition, flow water table and low infiltration rate. Resistivity soundings were made at existing wells to assess the subsurface layers. Beside that, the past records on floods event, sub surface and surface studies were collected around study area as a preliminary studies. It was presented that the study area promised good prospects to increase the capability of groundwater and contribute to the drainage system by reducing the volume of rainfall runoff using the recharge well technique.展开更多
The tropical Pacific is currently experiencing an El Nifio event. Various coupled models with different degrees of complexity have been used to make real-time E1 Nifio predictions, but large uncertainties exist in the...The tropical Pacific is currently experiencing an El Nifio event. Various coupled models with different degrees of complexity have been used to make real-time E1 Nifio predictions, but large uncertainties exist in the inten- sity forecast and are strongly model dependent. An intermediate coupled model (ICM) is used at the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), named the IOCAS ICM, to predict the sea surface temper- ature (SST) evolution in the tropical Pacific during the 2015-2016 E! Nifio event. One unique feature of the IOCAS ICM is the way in which the temperature of subsurface water entrained in the mixed layer (Te) is parameterized. Observed SST anomalies are only field that is utilized to initialize the coupled prediction using the IOCAS ICM. Examples are given of the model's ability to predict the SST conditions in a real-time manner. As is commonly evident in E1 Nifio- Southern Oscillation predictions using coupled models, large discrepancies occur between the observed and pre- dicted SST anomalies in spring 2015. Starting from early summer 2015, the model can realistically predict warming conditions. Thereafter, good predictions can be made through the summer and fall seasons of 2015. A transition to normal and cold conditions is predictecl to occur in rote spring 2016. Comparisons with other model predictions are made and factors influencing the prediction performance of the IOCAS ICM are also discussed.展开更多
Soil drying-rewetting(DRW) events affect nutrient transformation and microbial community composition; however, little is known about the influence of drying intensity during the DRW events. Therefore, we analyzed soil...Soil drying-rewetting(DRW) events affect nutrient transformation and microbial community composition; however, little is known about the influence of drying intensity during the DRW events. Therefore, we analyzed soil nutrient composition and microbial communities with exposure to various drying intensities during an experimental drying-rewetting event, using a silt loam from a grassland of northern China, where the semi-arid climate exposes soils to a wide range of moisture conditions, and grasslands account for over 40% of the nation's land area. We also conducted a sterilization experiment to examine the contribution of soil microbes to nutrient pulses. Soil drying-rewetting decreased carbon(C) mineralization by 9%–27%. Both monosaccharide and mineral nitrogen(N) contents increased with higher drying intensities(drying to ≤ 10% gravimetric water content), with the increases being 204% and 110% with the highest drying intensity(drying to 2% gravimetric water content), respectively, whereas labile phosphorus(P)only increased(by 105%) with the highest drying intensity. Moreover, levels of microbial biomass C and N and dissolved organic N decreased with increasing drying intensity and were correlated with increases in dissolved organic C and mineral N, respectively,whereas the increases in labile P were not consistent with reductions in microbial biomass P. The sterilization experiment results indicated that microbes were primarily responsible for the C and N pulses, whereas non-microbial factors were the main contributors to the labile P pulses. Phospholipid fatty acid analysis indicated that soil microbes were highly resistant to drying-rewetting events and that drought-resistant groups were probably responsible for nutrient transformation. Therefore, the present study demonstrated that moderate soil drying during drying-rewetting events could improve the mineralization of N, but not P, and that different mechanisms were responsible for the C, N, and P pulses observed during drying-rewetting events.展开更多
基金supported by the Specific Research of China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (Grant Nos. Fangji 1240)Chinese Ministry of Water Resources (Grant Nos. 201301058 and 20131059)the Basic Research Fund for Central Public Research Institutes (Grant No. CKSF2015010/TB)
文摘In recent years, flash flood disasters have occurred frequently in southwest China due to the increased frequency of extreme climate events. To solve this problem, great efforts have been made in studying the process of flash flood. However, little attention was paid on bearing body of hazard, the clusters of buildings. Thus the real disaster mechanism of flash flood remains unclear.Accordingly, based on the experiments of artificial flash floods in a conceptual solid model, this paper focuses on the flood-impacted inundation characteristics of the building clusters at different locations of the gully model, in order to obtain a better understanding of the disaster process and the interaction between the flash floods and building clusters. The results showed that, in a typical smallscale flash flood gully with hot and dry climate, 1)clusters of buildings on an alluvial fan could reduce about 35% of the flooding area by blocking the diffusion of the flood to the depression areas, and could also promote the deposition in lower reaches of the river channel by blocking the overbank flow from going back into the channel, making the width-depth ratio of the channel larger. 2) The flash flood rates of disaster and hazard on the alluvial fan are generally higher than that of the inner gully. For the inner gully,buildings located on the beaches along the lower river and the transitional areas of the straight channel and channel bends can easily be affected because of their lower elevations. For the alluvial fan, buildings nearby the meanders suffer the greatest impacts because of bank collapsing and flooding. 3) The safe vertical distance from a building to the river channel is 13 m for the buildings in the inner gully under extreme floods. Below this threshold, the smaller the vertical distance is, the greater the risk exposure is. For the buildings on the alluvial fan, especially for the buildings near the concave bank of the top rush point,the horizontal distance is more important, and the safe value is 80 m under extreme floods.
文摘Bazin favored every means to increase the "reality coefficient" in cinema. He specially prized cinema showing events integrally, what means, on the one hand, to show simultaneously and fully all the characters and all the objects pertaining to an event, and on the other to show the event integrally as it develops in time. Additionally Bazin showed that such a procedure reduces the purely literary component in cinema, and, correspondingly, increases its illusory force--as to the fictional reality presented. Yet, Bazin's work is not systematic, giving us brilliant insights scattered through many essays. Following Bazin's main idea, this presentation attempts to systematically discuss the illusory potential of the shot presenting an event integrally as compared with the imaginary, that is, literary character introduced in cinema by suggesting an event by means of montage and fragmentary shots. We proceed by means of a detailed consideration of the belief-structure of the aesthetic experience corresponding to the single shot integrally showing an event and to montage suggesting an event by means of fragmentary shots. The core of the presentation lies in defining the concept of aesthetic belief as the propositional attitude having the structure accepting that P without believing that P is the case. We will carefully distinguish that structure in the case of illusion from the case of imagination as well as from illusion as sensory-based deception.
文摘In this writing, I reconstruct the Principle of Complementarity in Quantum Mechanics, elaborated by Niels Bohr, and the conception of objectivity implied in it (and in Bohr's writings). Then, I connect it with the epistemological pragmatism of the philosopher Richard Rorty. My aim is to reinterpret some issues of this quantum description that concern the category of objectivity from the Rortian perspective in a plausible way. This allows me to connect in a positive and a negative sense some quantum (and Bohrian) assumptions to the Rortian perspective, but mainly, it allows to reconsider the framework of scientific objects from the modern perspective to a new pragmatist and anti-essentialist point of view.
文摘Assessing probabilities for relevant and sometimes unique events in real-world decision situations can be problematic. This paper elucidates a 2-step process for assigning probabilities to relevant events enabling a rational decision process to supersede decision choices based only on a gut feeling. After assessing probabilities the decision maker can confirm or reverse a gut feeling choice using expected values for each available act and traditional decision theory methodology. A simple example involving a buy now or buy later situation with market uncertainty illustrates the process for typical yes or no decisions.
文摘Expressions of emotion in the media, especially in the context of news, are often criticized as promoting irrational attitudes. For supporters of this kind of criticism, rather than addressing such emotional sensitivity, journalism should be objective, appealing to the rationality of the public. Anger, indignation, enthusiasm, and expressions of joy or sadness should not have part in public debates. From this perspective, rationality and emotions are opposed, the former being fundamental for the constitution of the public sphere, while the latter falls into the category of inner impulses. While Kant denied any sort of rationality to emotions, Gustave Lebon attributed emotional attitudes to crowds rather than to a public. In a crowd, emotions spread like an epidemic through a kind of contagion. The present study is based on a contrasting perspective and focuses on the rationality of emotions', whether in philosophy (Nussbaum), sociology (Paperman, Aranguren 2014; Livet 2002), or psychology (Krant-Gruber). Oddly enough, these different approaches do not seem to have affected media studies where, belief in the irrationality of emotions, still dominates analyses of media coverage of natural or industrial catastrophes, wars, or terrorist attacks. Instead of considering the nature of emotions, or the question of whether they actually corrupt the objectivity of journalism and the supposed rationality of public debates, I will seek to develop a pragmatist approach to the question of what, emotions actually do. In fact, the idea of emotions spreading contagiously had been disputed since the 18th century when Adam Smith asked how a British newspaper reader could be affected by an earthquake happening in China. Suffering from a distance, says Adam Smith, is not the product of some kind of contagion. If we want to understand this sort of feeling, we have to imagine an inner moral spectator inside of every human being Oddly enough, Adam Smith considers emotions to be moral feelings. To feel horrified by the consequences of an earthquake, or to feel indignant about the death of innocent victims, are moral attitudes. In this respect, they are rational, but the feelings of indignation or horror also include bodily reactions. We scream, put our hands over our mouths; we blush, have tears in our eyes; we feel our heartbeat accelerate etc. These bodily reactions seem impulsive and entirely subjective, but to what extent can we say that they are rational or moral?
文摘Previously, the military establishment has been the primary developer and user of micro technologies associated with unmanned systems. As these technologies become available commercially, a need exists to integrate the use of the technology into local or regional public safety and homeland security incidents. The purpose of this presentation is to explain several key factors to consider when using micro technologies and unmanned systems in support of public safety and homeland security officials. Real time information is critical to the decision making process for public safety and homeland security officials to make assessments and quickly resolve crisis situations. Unmanned micro-vehicles and micro technologies are well suited to remotely observe, gather essential information, and immediately relay it to incident responders. These technologies can provide extremely important support during responses to hostage situations, hazardous environments, search and rescue, natural disasters, border patrol and many others. The true benefit is having remote resources providing real time support to incident responders. This paper discusses the use of several different types of micro-vehicle platforms in public safety scenarios and their use of associated technologies such as GPS (Global Positioning System) autopilot, communication, and sensor devices.
文摘This paper reviews the early development of design requirements for seismic events in USA early developing nuclear electric generating fleet. Notable safety studies,including WASH-1400,Sandia Siting Study and the NUREG1150 probabilistic risk study,are briefly reviewed in terms of their relevance to extreme accidents arising from seismic and other severe accident initiators. Specific characteristic about the nature of severe accidents in nuclear power plant (NPP) are reviewed along with present day state-of-art analysis methodologies (methods for estimation of leakages and consequences of releases (MELCOR) and MELCOR accident consequence code system (MACCS)) that are used to evaluate severe accidents and to optimize mitigative and protective actions against such accidents. It is the aim of this paper to make nuclear operating nations aware of the risks that accompany a much needed energy resource and to identify some of the tools,techniques and landmark safety studies that serve to make the technology safer and to maintain vigilance and adequate safety culture for the responsible management of this valuable but unforgiving technology.
文摘Groundwater as an alternative source still does not contribute to the water supply in area of Parit Raja because of the limitation of water availability in the ground. This lacking of groundwater could be caused by the circumstance that the top layer of soil is dominated by compacted clay around 2 meters in which its permeability is small, so the water is difficult to infiltrate the ground. The recharge well technique was designed based on the flat area problems, layer of real condition, flow water table and low infiltration rate. Resistivity soundings were made at existing wells to assess the subsurface layers. Beside that, the past records on floods event, sub surface and surface studies were collected around study area as a preliminary studies. It was presented that the study area promised good prospects to increase the capability of groundwater and contribute to the drainage system by reducing the volume of rainfall runoff using the recharge well technique.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41490644,41475101 and41421005)the CAS Strategic Priority Project+1 种基金the Western Pacific Ocean System(XDA11010105,XDA11020306 and XDA11010301)the NSFC-Shandong Joint Fund for Marine Science Research Centers(U1406401)
文摘The tropical Pacific is currently experiencing an El Nifio event. Various coupled models with different degrees of complexity have been used to make real-time E1 Nifio predictions, but large uncertainties exist in the inten- sity forecast and are strongly model dependent. An intermediate coupled model (ICM) is used at the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), named the IOCAS ICM, to predict the sea surface temper- ature (SST) evolution in the tropical Pacific during the 2015-2016 E! Nifio event. One unique feature of the IOCAS ICM is the way in which the temperature of subsurface water entrained in the mixed layer (Te) is parameterized. Observed SST anomalies are only field that is utilized to initialize the coupled prediction using the IOCAS ICM. Examples are given of the model's ability to predict the SST conditions in a real-time manner. As is commonly evident in E1 Nifio- Southern Oscillation predictions using coupled models, large discrepancies occur between the observed and pre- dicted SST anomalies in spring 2015. Starting from early summer 2015, the model can realistically predict warming conditions. Thereafter, good predictions can be made through the summer and fall seasons of 2015. A transition to normal and cold conditions is predictecl to occur in rote spring 2016. Comparisons with other model predictions are made and factors influencing the prediction performance of the IOCAS ICM are also discussed.
基金supported by the Scientific and Technological Innovation Fund of Shanxi Agricultural University,China(No.2017YJ17)the Outstanding Doctor Funding Award of Shanxi Province,China(No.SXYBKY201720)+2 种基金the National Basic Research Program(973 Program)of China(No.2013CB127403)the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.XDB15020402)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41571130061)
文摘Soil drying-rewetting(DRW) events affect nutrient transformation and microbial community composition; however, little is known about the influence of drying intensity during the DRW events. Therefore, we analyzed soil nutrient composition and microbial communities with exposure to various drying intensities during an experimental drying-rewetting event, using a silt loam from a grassland of northern China, where the semi-arid climate exposes soils to a wide range of moisture conditions, and grasslands account for over 40% of the nation's land area. We also conducted a sterilization experiment to examine the contribution of soil microbes to nutrient pulses. Soil drying-rewetting decreased carbon(C) mineralization by 9%–27%. Both monosaccharide and mineral nitrogen(N) contents increased with higher drying intensities(drying to ≤ 10% gravimetric water content), with the increases being 204% and 110% with the highest drying intensity(drying to 2% gravimetric water content), respectively, whereas labile phosphorus(P)only increased(by 105%) with the highest drying intensity. Moreover, levels of microbial biomass C and N and dissolved organic N decreased with increasing drying intensity and were correlated with increases in dissolved organic C and mineral N, respectively,whereas the increases in labile P were not consistent with reductions in microbial biomass P. The sterilization experiment results indicated that microbes were primarily responsible for the C and N pulses, whereas non-microbial factors were the main contributors to the labile P pulses. Phospholipid fatty acid analysis indicated that soil microbes were highly resistant to drying-rewetting events and that drought-resistant groups were probably responsible for nutrient transformation. Therefore, the present study demonstrated that moderate soil drying during drying-rewetting events could improve the mineralization of N, but not P, and that different mechanisms were responsible for the C, N, and P pulses observed during drying-rewetting events.