故事性修辞推理伊始(下)——巴比伦神话分析

两河流域的文明,即美索不达米亚文明是世界上最古老的文明。巴比伦神话是印欧语系神话的滥觞。我们从巴比伦神话字里行间提到的生活用品中能够看到当时的物质文明程度,也能够看到修辞形式的特点。对《吉尔伽美什》《伊南娜下冥府》等几个故事的分析中可以看到巴比伦神话的特点。巴比伦神话是最早的故事性修辞推理的文本。欧洲人使用巴比伦神话作为原型创作绘画,其中的表现手法,反映了对原意的理解,也可以看到它对欧洲文化的巨大影响。

故事性修辞推理伊始(上)——巴比伦神话分析

两河流域的文明,即美索不达米亚文明是世界上最古老的文明。巴比伦神话是印欧语系神话的滥觞。我们从巴比伦神话字里行间提到的生活用品中能够看到当时的物质文明程度,也能够看到修辞形式的特点。对《吉尔伽美什》《伊南娜下冥府》等几个故事的分析中可以看到巴比伦神话的特点。巴比伦神话是最早的故事性修辞推理的文本。欧洲人使用巴比伦神话作为原型创作绘画,其中的表现手法,反映了对原意的理解,也可以看到它对欧洲文化的巨大影响。

Concentration–discharge patterns of weathering products from global rivers

Quantifying the functional relationships relating river discharge and weathering products places key constraints on the negative feedback between the silicate weathering and climate. In this study we analyze the concentration–discharge relationships of weathering products from global rivers using previously compiled time-series datasets for concentrations and discharge from global rivers. To analyze the nature of the covariation between specific discharge and concentrations, we use both a power law equation and a recently developed solute production equation. The solute production equation allows us to quantify weathering efficiency, or the resistance to dilution at high runoff, via the Damkohler coefficient. These results are also compared to those derived using average concentration–discharge pairs.Both the power law exponent and the Damkohler coefficient increase and asymptote as catchments exhibit increasingly chemostatic behavior, resulting in an inverse relationship between the two parameters. We also show that using thedistribution of average concentration–discharge pairs from global rivers, rather than fitting concentration–discharge relationships for each individual river, underestimates global median weathering efficiency by up to a factor of ～10. This study demonstrates the utility of long time-series sampling of global rivers to elucidate controlling processes needed to quantify patterns in global silicate weathering rates.

On the Second Borel-Cantelli Lemma for α-mixing Sequences of Events

In this paper, we give some conditions on diverging rate of series of the probabilities and converging rate of series of the α-mixing coefficients for sequences of events, under which the conclusion of the Second Borel-Cantelli Lemma holds. As corollaries, some moment conditions are obtained, under which the strong law of large numbers holds for sequences of identically distributed random variables.

The Law of the Iterated Logarithm for the Sums of φ-Mixing Sequences with Duple Suffixes

Hu Shuhe gets a sufficient condition on the law of the iterated logarithm for the sums of φ-mixing sequences with duple suffixes. This paper greatly improves his condition.

Self-Similar Characteristic for the Ramp Structures of Wind Speed

Time series of wind speed are composed of large and small ramp structures. Data analysis reveals a power law relation between the linear slope of ramp structures and the time scale. This suggests that these ramp structures of wind speed have a self-similar characteristic. The lower limit of the self-similar scale range was 2 s. The upper limit is unexpectedly large at 27 rain. Data are collected from grassland, city, and lake areas. Although these data have different underlying surfaces, all of them clearly show a power law relation, with slight differences in their power exponents.

CHOVER'S LAW OF THE ITERATED LOGARITHM FOR NEGATIVELY ASSOCIATED SEQUENCES

Consider a sequence of negatively associated and identically distributed random variableswith the underlying distribution in the domain of attraction of a stable distribution with an exponentin(0,2).A Chover's law of the iterated logarithm is established for negatively associated randomvariables.Our results generalize and improve those on Chover's law of the iterated logarithm(LIL)type behavior previously obtained by Mikosch(1984),Vasudeva(1984),and Qi and Cheng(1996)fromthe i.i.d,case to NA sequences.

Evolved to adapt： A computational approach to animal innovation and creativity

The production of novel behavioral sequences that gives rise to animal innovation and creativity is one of the most intriguing aspects of behavioral evolution. Numerous studies have recently documented the abundance and diversity of innova- tive and creative behaviors between and within species, yet the ability to innovate or to act creatively has mainly been described and quantified as a measure of animals＇ cognitive ability without explicit reference to cognitive mechanisms that may account for these behaviors. Here we discuss the creative process from a computational point of view and suggest such a mechanistic frame- work. In light of recent research on human creativity, animal learning, and animal problem solving, we suggest that animal crea- tivity is best understood as the production of context-appropriate novel behavioral sequences, which may be facilitated by the ability to learn the regularities in the environment and to represent them hierarchically, allowing for generalization. We present a cognitive framework that we recently developed, which employs domain-general mechanisms and has been used in the modeling of a range of sequential behaviors, from animal foraging to language acquisition, and apply it to behavioral innovation. In a series of simulations, we show how innovation and creative behavior can be produced by this learning mechanism, as it constructs a network representing the statistical regularities of the environment. We use the simulations to demonstrate the role of particular cognitive parameters in this process and to highlight the effects of the learning dynamics and individual experience on creativity

Distribution and enrichment patterns of selenium in the Ediacaran and early Cambrian strata in the Yangtze Gorges area, South China

The distribution and enrichment patterns of selenium(Se) in the E-?1 strata in the Yangtze Gorges area of South China were obtained. The geochemical characteristics of the significantly and non-significantly enriched strata of Se were analyzed.The observed enrichment factor(EF, relative to the upper continental crust) and concentration coefficient(CC, relative to the similar lithology in Eastern China) both suggest that Se is the most enriched/concentrated(SeEF=26.97, SeCC=48.04) among the analyzed23 trace elements the E-?1 strata. The normalized enrichment factor(EF′, EF after Al or Th normalized) shows Se is secondly enriched(SeEF′=218.73), which is slightly lower than cadmium(CdEF′=288.46) but significantly higher than the third enriched trace element arsenic(AsEF′=97.49). Se concentrations in the E-?1 strata vary from <10.5 to 30.08 ppm with an arithmetic mean value of 1.35 ppm. Compared to the Nantuo Formation, Se increased 11.78 times in the whole E-?1 strata and the average EF values are displayed as Shuijingtuo(92.58)>Yanjiahe(54.45)>Doushantuo(24.72)>Dengying(2.48)>Shipai(1.95)>lower Tianheban(1.24)Formations. Se concentrations in the E-?1 strata are best displayed on natural logarithm normal quantile-quantile(Q-Q) plots and shown as a positive-skewed distribution pattern. The Se significantly enriched(EF>10) strata sequences mainly include the lower and upper Doushantuo member II(DST-II), top DST-III, DST-IV, the basal and upper Yanjiahe Formation, and lower and upper Shuijingtuo Formation. Geochemical characteristics indicate that Se concentrations in the significantly enriched strata were generally influenced by terrigenous detrital as well as the combined action of single or multiple factors, such as hydrotherm,volcanic debris and deep source. Moreover, pyrite and organic matter promoted the enrichment of Se in the upper DST-II, DST-IV,upper Shuijingtuo Formation and lower DST-II, upper Shuijingtuo Formation, respectively. The Se concentrations in the not significantly enriched strata(except for DST-I, middle Shuijingtuo Formation, Shipai Formation and lower Tianheban Formation)were also influenced by terrigenous detrital, but other enrichment activities(e.g., hydrothermal, volcanic debris, and deep source)were generally insignificant.

THE STRONG LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS FOR PAIRWISE NQD RANDOM VARIABLES

In this paper, the almost sure convergence for pairwise negatively quadrant dependent random variables is studied. The strong law of large numbers for pairwise negatively quadrant dependent random variables is obtained. Our results generalize and improve those on almost sure convergence theorems previously obtained by Marcinkiewicz （1937）, Jamison （1965）, Matula （1992） and Wu （2001） from the independent identically distributed （i.i.d.） case to pairwise NQD sequences.