We have investigated the geologic features of the lower Cambrian-aged Niutitang Shale in the northwestern Hunan province of South China. Our results indicate that the Niutitang Shale has abundant and highly mature algal kerogen with total organic carbon content ranging from 0.6% to 18.2%. The equivalent vitrinite reflectance value is between 2.5% and 4.3%. Mineral constituents are dominated by quartz and clay. The average quartz content is much higher than that of clay minerals, and this suggests a high brittleness index. (...) Organic-matter pores, interparticle pores, intraparticle pores, interlaminated fractures, and structural fractures are all well developed. The porosity ranges from 0.6% to 8.8%, with an average of 4.8%, whereas the permeability varies from 0.0018 to [Formula: see text]. The porosity of TOC- and clay-rich shale samples is generally higher than that of quartz-rich shale samples. The gas adsorption capacity of the Niutitang Shale varies from 2.26 to [Formula: see text], with a mean value of [Formula: see text]. The TOC content appears to significantly influence gas adsorption capacity. In general, TOC-rich samples exhibit a much higher adsorption capacity than TOC-poor samples. (shrink)

The storage and seepage space of shale is mainly composed of pores and fractures, while the microscopic pore structure and fracture distribution are very complicated. The accuracy of calculation of pore structure parameters is related to whether the reservoir evaluation is correct and effective. Taking the Niutitang Formation in the Cengong area of Guizhou as the research object. Firstly, based on the Archie formula, the process of the wellbore mud intrusion is approximated as the process of the laboratory high pressure (...) mercury intrusion, combined with conventional and nuclear magnetic resonance logging data. The formula deduces a new model for the T2 spectrum conversion pseudo-capillary pressure curve. Then the model is calibrated by the high pressure mercury intrusion experimental data, and the pore structure parameters such as reservoir pore size distribution curve and maximum pore throat radius are calculated. The results show that the maximum pore throat radius and total porosity data calculated by NMR logging are relatively reliable, the median radius error is general, and the displacement pressure and median pressure error are relatively large. The pore volume percentage of 1-10 μm is up to 60%, and the micro-cracks are relatively developed, which is beneficial to the fracturing of the reservoir. Therefore, the use of NMR logging data combined with conventional logging can better reflect the pore structure characteristics of reservoirs, which provides a strong support for complex reservoir identification and qualitative prediction of productivity, and has a good application prospect. (shrink)

Amplitude-variation-with-offset technique is one of the primary quantitative hydrocarbon discrimination methods with prestack seismic data. However, the prestack seismic data are usually have low data quality, such as nonflat gathers and nonpreserved amplitude due to absorption, attenuation, and/or many other reasons, which usually lead to a wrong AVO response. The Neogene formations in the Huanghekou area of the Bohai Bay Basin are unconsolidated clastics with a high average porosity, and we find that the attenuation on seismic signal is very strong, (...) which causes an inconsistency of AVO responses between seismic gathers and its corresponding synthetics. Our research results indicate that the synthetic AVO response can match the field seismic gathers in the low-frequency end, but not in the high-frequency components. Thus, we have developed an AVO response correction method based on high-resolution complex spectral decomposition and low-frequency constraint. This method can help to achieve a correct high-resolution AVO response. Its application in Bohai oil fields reveals that it is an efficient way to identify hydrocarbons in rocks, which provides an important technique for support in oil and gas exploration and production in this area. (shrink)

Varlığa ilk adım attığı andan itibaren hayatı seven insanoğlu, yaşı ilerle-dikçe tanıştığı ve bağlandığı diğer insanların sayısının artmasıyla hayata daha da bağlanmaktadır. Ancak ne var ki anne-baba, evlat-torun, eş-dost yakınlıklarıyla şenlenen hayatın sonunu ve ayrılıkların yakınlaşmakta olduğunu haber veren ihtiyarlık gün içinde ikindiye, yıl içerisinde de sonbahara benzemektedir. Karanlık gece ve soğuk kışların habercisi olan ihtiyarlık dönemi beka arzusuyla coşkun insan tabiatı açısından hüzünlü bir dönemi ifade etmektedir. “Yaşlılık” olgusu, duygusal yoğunluklardan hayatını alan edebiyatın dikkatini çeken temalarından biridir. Hemen her (...) dil edebiyatında kendinden şikâyetle bahsedilen ihtiyarlık, özellikle Arap edebiyatında sıklıkla işlenen konulardandır. Klasik Arap edebiyatının büyük şairlerinden neredeyse tamamı ihtiyarlıktan bahsetmiştir. İhtiyarlık onların gözünde çoğu zaman tatlı hayatın acı yönüdür. Bu makalede klasik Arap şiirinde şairlerin yaşlılık konusunu nasıl ele aldıklarını onların şiirlerinden hareketle inceleyecektir. Girişte yaşlılık hakkında ayet ve hadislerde yer verilen bilgilerle bir sunum yapılacaktır. Sonrasında ise Arap edebiyatında yaşlılık olgusunu farklı şekilde ele alan yaklaşımlar başlıklar halinde tasnif edilecektir. (shrink)

Temel ontoloji, sonlu insan özünün ontolojik açıdan çözümlenmesi anlamına gelir. Bu ontolojik çözümleme, “insanın doğasına ait” metafizik için temel hazırlamalıdır. Temel ontoloji, metafiziğin olanaklılaşması için gerekli olan insan Dasein’ın metafiziğidir ve tüm antropoloji türlerinden, felsefi antropolojiden de temelden ayrışır. Bir Temel ontoloji idesini açıklamak demek, Dasein’a ilişkin tanımlı ontolojik çözümlemeyi kaçınılmaz bir gereksinim olarak görmek ve bu yolla temel ontolojinin “insan nedir?” biçimindeki somut soruyu hangi amaçla ve hangi tarzda, hangi sınırlama içerisinde ve hangi koşullar altında sorduğunu açıklığa kavuşturmak demektir. (...) Ancak bir fikir öncelikle bir olguyu ya da olayı aydınlatma gücüne dayanarak beliriyorsa, temel ontoloji idesi de bir metafiziğin temellendirilmesi olarak “Saf Aklın Eleştirisi”nin bir yorumunda kendini savunmalı ve göstermelidir. (shrink)

İslâm coğrafyasının genişlemesi neticesinde Arap olmayan toplulukların İslâm dini ile tanışmaları beraberinde bir takım problemleri de getirmiştir. Bu problemler arasında, Kur’ân’ın yanlış anlaşılma endişesi en başı çekmektedir. Arapçaya hâkim olmamaktan kaynaklanan dil hatalarının âyetlere kadar sirayet ettiğini gösteren birçok rivayetin varlığı da bunu teyit etmektedir. Bundan dolayı hicrî birinci yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren dil ile ilgili faaliyetler aralıksız bir şekilde devam etmiştir. Bu faaliyetler arasında, Kur’ân’ın üslûbunu, âyetlerde yer alan kelimelerin delâleti ve sesletimini, cümlelerin iç bütünlüğü ile filolojik tahlillerini ele (...) alan çalışmalar bulunmaktadır. Bu çalışmalar, Arap gramerinin oluşturulması ve bazı gramer ekollerinin ortaya çıkmasıyla birlikte genellikle “Ma‘âni’l-Ḳur’ân” ve “İ‘râbü’l-Ḳur’ân” başlıkları kullanılarak daha sistemli bir şekilde hicri dördüncü yüzyılın sonlarına kadar devam etmiştir. “Ma‘âni’l-Ḳur’ân” başlığını kullanarak eser yazan âlimler arasında gramer ilmiyle birlikte tefsir alanında da önemli bir konuma sahip olan Yahyâ b. Ziyâd el-Ferrâ da bulunmaktadır. Sözü edilen eserde Ferrâ’nın, lügavî tahlilleri esnasında özellikle sözcüklerin siygası ve çok anlamlılığı doğrultusunda dil-kültür ilişkisine örnek olabilecek birçok bireysel değerlendirmesine rastlanılmaktadır. Onun bazı ayetler etrafında sergilenen çeşitli görüşlere yer verdikten sonra Arap toplumu nezdinde bir yönüyle de bile olsa kabul gören semantik tahlillere ayrıca yer vermesi, müfessirlerin, çoğu zaman anlaşılması güç ayetlerle birlikte murad edilenin dışında bir yorumun önlenmesi için dönemin kültüründen yararlanmaları gerektiği şeklinde de değerlendirilebilir. Bu bakımdan Kur’ân-ı Kerîm’in insanlığa sunduğu mesajların en doğru şekilde anlaşılabilmesi adına bazı âyetlerin tefsiri ve değerlendirmesi yapılırken başvurulacak ilmî merci ve disiplinlerin geniş tutulması önem arz etmektedir. Binâenaleyh makalede Ferrâ’nın kendisine özgü tahlilleriyle beraber, görüşlerine yer verdiği başka âlimlerin analizlerinden sadece dil-kültür ilişkisine örnek olabilecek tespitler üzerinde durularak kültür ve dil etkileşiminin âyet yorumundaki rolüne işaret edilecektir. (shrink)

The cosmopolitan idea of justice is commonly accused of not taking seriously the special ties and commitments of nationality and patriotism. This is because the ideal of impartial egalitarianism, which is central to the cosmopolitan view, seems to be directly opposed to the moral partiality inherent to nationalism and patriotism. In this book, Kok-Chor Tan argues that cosmopolitan justice, properly understood, can accommodate and appreciate nationalist and patriotic commitments, setting limits for these commitments without denying their moral significance. This book (...) offers a defense of cosmopolitan justice against the charge that it denies the values that ordinarily matter to people, and a defence of nationalism and patriotism against the charge that these morally partial ideals are fundamentally inconsistent with the obligations of global justice. Accessible and persuasive, this book will have broad appeal to political theorists and moral philosophers. (shrink)

In two recent papers, Mr Robert Young maintains that all attempts by philosophers to bolster the-violation-of-law concept of miracles are bound to fail and propounds what he claims to be a novel non-reductivist concept of miracles which avoids the conceptual difficulties of the violation-model. His view of miracles is of god being ‘an active agent-factor in the set of factors which actually was causally operative’ [p. 123] in an event dubbed a miracle. God is put in among ‘the plurality of (...) causes’ [p. 122, S p. 33] that could determine the event, but if he acts in a miracle, then ‘his presence…alters the outcome from what it would have been if, contrary to fact , he had not been present’ [p. 122]. Young claims that his concept ‘is neither a violation of … laws nor is it a coincidental occurrence religiously interpreted’ [p. 122, S p. 33], and so it avoids the difficulties, which he thinks are faced by the violation-model, of having an intelligible notion of an occurrence of the physically impossible, and also the reductivism inherent in taking mere coincidences as miracles. He also suggests a procedure of settling the epistemological issue regarding particular alleged miracles, an inquiry he thinks he has made possible by having first given a sense to miracles. [p. 126]. (shrink)

Molla Halil’e göre insanların bu dünyada yaptıkları iyiliklere karşılık Yüce Allah onları ahirette lütfuyla nimetlendirecek ve Cennetine koyacaktır. Bu, Allah’ın insanlara bir va‘didir. Allah va‘dinden asla dönmez. Çünkü Allah’ın va‘dinden dönmesi, O’nun hakkında bir eksiklik sayılır. Ancak bu durum O’nun için vucûbiyet ifade etmez. Vucubiyet kavramı çeşitli anlamlarda kullanıldığı için anlam kargaşasına yol açabilir. Buna sebebiyet vermemek için kelamda özellikle de bu makalede “zorunluluk” anlamına kullanılacak olup bazen gereklilik anlamı da ihtiva edebilir. Allah, kötülük yapanları ise adaletiyle cezalandıracaktır. Bu da (...) Allah’ın va‘îdi olup, va‘îdi’nden dönebilir. Bu, O’nun hakkında bir noksanlığa sebebiyet vermez. Çünkü cezalandırmaktan vazgeçmesi Allah’ın merhametinin ve lütfunun bir sonucudur. Bununla birlikte ne va‘d ve ne de va‘îd Allah’a vacip değildir. Molla Halil’e göre, büyük günah insanı imandan çıkarmaz. Mu‘tezile’ye göre büyük günah işleyen kimse dünyada ne mümin olur ne de kâfir ikisinin arasında bir yerde durur. Buna da fasıklık denir. Haricîlere göre ise, ister büyük, isterse küçük olsun, her türlü günah sahibini iman dairesinden çıkarır ve küfür dairesine dahil eder. Molla Halil’e göre, ahiret hayatı ruh ve cesetle birlikte olacaktır. Bu üm-metin günahkârlarına peygamberler, şehitler ve salih kimseler şefaat edecek-tir. Mu‘tezile‘ye göre şefaat sadece iyilerin derecesinin yükselmesi içindir. Günahkârlar için şefaat olmayacaktır. Günahkâr müminler Cehenneme girseler de ebedi kalmayacaklar. Kâfirlerin azapları ise devamlı olacak ve bunlar ebedi olarak Cehennemde kalacaklardır. Biz bu makalede önce sevap ve İkâb kelimelerinin lügat ve ıstılah anlamları üzerinde duracak, sonra bu bağlamda ayet ve hadislerde verilen bilgileri ve bunların açıklamalarını ele alacağız. Daha sonra Molla Halil’in bu konulara dair görüşlerini sunmaya çalışacağız. Onun sevap ve İkâb ile ilgili tanımlarını, bunların sonuçlarına dair yaşanacakları ve varılacak yerleri ele alan yaklaşımlarını sunmaya çalışacağız. Burada farklı görüşlere sahip olmaları nedeniyle çoğunlukla Mu‘tezile’nin ve az da olsa Haricilerin görüşlerine de mukayese oluşturması için değineceğiz. Burada sadece Molla Halil’in görüşlerini değil, onun içinden geldiği Ehli Sünnetin görüşlerini, sünni kaynakları temel alarak aktarmaya çalışacağız. (shrink)

Kit Fine famously objected against the idea that essence can be successfully analyzed in terms of de re necessity. In response, I want to explore a novel, interesting, but controversial modal account of essence in terms of intrinsicality and grounding. In the first section, I will single out two theoretical requirements that any essentialist theory should meet—the essentialist desideratum and the essentialist challenge—in order to clarify Fine’s objections. In the second section, I will assess Denby’s improved modal account, which appeals (...) to the notion of intrinsicality, and argue that it is untenable. In the third section, I will explain how, when combined with a modal-existential criterion, a hyperintensional account of intrinsicality—in the same vein as Bader (J Philos 110(10): 525–563, 2013) and Rosen (in: Hale and Hoffman (eds) Modality: Metaphysics, logic, and epistemology, Oxford, OUP, 2010)—can help successfully address Fine’s counterexamples. In the fourth section, I will evaluate how this novel analysis of essence stands with respect to sortal, origin, and natural kinds essentialism and discuss potential objections and difficulties. (shrink)

The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy Methodologies presents a new understanding of the changing methods used to study Chinese philosophy. By identifying the various different approaches and discussing the role, and significance of philosophical methods in the Chinese tradition, this collection identifies difficulties and exciting developments for scholars of Asian philosophy.

Highly sophisticated capabilities of artificial intelligence have skyrocketed its popularity across many industry sectors globally. The public sector is one of these. Many cities around the world are trying to position themselves as leaders of urban innovation through the development and deployment of AI systems. Likewise, increasing numbers of local government agencies are attempting to utilise AI technologies in their operations to deliver policy and generate efficiencies in highly uncertain and complex urban environments. While the popularity of AI is on (...) the rise in urban policy circles, there is limited understanding and lack of empirical studies on the city manager perceptions concerning urban AI systems. Bridging this gap is the rationale of this study. The methodological approach adopted in this study is twofold. First, the study collects data through semi-structured interviews with city managers from Australia and the US. Then, the study analyses the data using the summative content analysis technique with two data analysis software. The analysis identifies the following themes and generates insights into local government services: AI adoption areas, cautionary areas, challenges, effects, impacts, knowledge basis, plans, preparedness, roadblocks, technologies, deployment timeframes, and usefulness. The study findings inform city managers in their efforts to deploy AI in their local government operations, and offer directions for prospective research. (shrink)

In the present inquiry, I defend the claim that the thesis that essence is the source of all necessity is compromised. I argue that, on pain of circularity, essentialists cannot successfully account for the necessity of essences. In response to the difficulties I raise, I discuss potential solutions on behalf of essentialists and explain why I find none of them compelling. My conclusion on the matter is that the best essentialists can hope for is a view where the necessity of (...) essences is left unexplained. (shrink)

This paper examines the meaning and importance of the concept of immanent-transcendence in Mou’s assertion that Chinese philosophy is unique and superior, through his engagement with the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and his comparisons of Chinese and Western philosophical traditions. Rejecting Kant’s “epistemological path” as deficient, Mou argues that knowledge of the transcendent is possible through moral practice, as demonstrated by the Confucian tradition. His merging of immanence and transcendence implies a different relation between ethics and religion compared with the (...) way Kant himself conceived that relation. Despite the emphasis on practice in his understanding of Confucian spirituality, Mou’s approach is significantly different from a Dewey inspired Pragmatist approach to claims about transcendence. The paper contextualizes the theoretical choices in the development of Mou’s philosophy within China’s historical encounter with Dewey’s Pragmatism, and Mou’s own perception of his mission in a period of cultural crisis. (shrink)

_What is this thing called Global Justice?_ explores the core topics covered on the increasingly popular undergraduate modules on global justice including: world poverty economic inequality nationalism human rights humanitarian intervention immigration global democracy and governance climate change international justice. Centered on real world problems, this textbook helps students to understand that global justice is not only a field of philosophical inquiry but also of practical importance. Each chapter concludes with a helpful summary of the main ideas discussed, study questions (...) and a further reading guide. (shrink)

As a special type of lithologic body, gas-bearing strata, composed of rhyolite, an igneous rock with a volcanic composition, is characterized by deep burial, complex lithology, poor stratification, and a complicated gas-bearing distribution. These characteristics lead to difficulties in the prediction of gas-bearing reservoir parameters and thus restrict the exploration and exploitation of such reservoirs. The unique and complex volcanic model contains different types of facies and subfacies since the volcanic eruption usually experiences different explosion-effusion periods. Our study focuses on (...) the vertical and lateral gas-bearing reservoir distribution in a volcanic environment in the Cretaceous Yingcheng Formation of the Songnan Gas Field, utilizing seismic facies-controlled non-linear stochastic inversion to integrate the volcanic facies information. First, we built the volcanic facies model for the Songliao Basin to introduce the comprehensive characteristics of the volcanic facies during a volcanic eruption, and analyzed the well-tie logging facies and seismic facies to guide the facies analysis of the target layer. Then, based on this facies analysis, we depicted the gas-bearing reservoir in detail through the use of seismic facies-controlled non-linear random inversion. Finally, we predicted the distribution of the gas-bearing reservoir by the inversion results. The predicted results were found to agree well with the actual drilling data. The inversion method effectively predicts the velocity distribution of the gas-bearing reservoir, which provides a good foundation for the subsequent description of gas-bearing reservoirs in the Yingcheng Formation. (shrink)

_Explores the significance of Dewey’s thought on democracy for the contemporary world._.

INTRODUCTION T& #39;an Ssu-t& #39;ung If H[hJ was an important philosopher and activist in modern China, who, though his life was exceedingly short,...

In this article I scrutinise a crucial tension in understanding the debate over shale gas production in Europe. On the one hand, analyses predominantly grasp the debate in terms of pro-and-con dialectics, as if the pro-shale gas camp faced the anti-shale gas camp in a dyadic clash of opposing voices. On the other hand, it is commonly recognised that this debate is driven by multi-party and multi-position argumentative dynamics. In this broader context, I focus on one pivotal contribution to the (...) debate – Gazprom’s press release from October 2013 outlining Russia’s energy giant’s strategy of dealing with unconventional gas production. I employ concepts and methods of argumentative discourse analysis to contend that an arguer to a multi-party debate – argumentative polylogue – faces a number of constraints and opportunities that cannot be adequately grasped in terms of dyadic pro-and-con dialectics. The analysis reveals how Gazprom needs to simultaneously design its discourse to address a number of other parties who might also disagree among themselves: from Greenpeace to European Union governments to shale gas companies. I show why and how a stakeholder analysis used in organisational communication might lead to a better understanding of this form of multi-party public argumentation. (shrink)

This essay examines the risks of racialized science as revealed in the American mustard gas experiments of World War II. In a climate of contested beliefs over the existence and meanings of racial differences, medical researchers examined the bodies of Japanese American, African American, and Puerto Rican soldiers for evidence of how they differed from whites.

This collection stands out from what has come to resemble a cottage industry of volumes on global democracy and cosmopolitanism. Tan and Whalen-Bridge’s collection has the distinction of exploring whether Deweyan democracy, or the account of democracy inspired by Dewey’s writings and embraced by contemporary Deweyans, can be disseminated globally and across diverse cultures. According to the collection’s editors, the eleven essays share a single approach: ‘By examining the implications for conceiving of democracy as culture, rather than as something that (...) precedes or follows from cultural formations, the essays in this volume consider Dewey’s adumbrations of democracy as one face of globalization’ (1). Since the volume is dedicated to the late Richard Rorty, it is unsurprising that the relevance of Rorty’s neopragmatism to Dewey’s pragmatism also emerges in several of the essays. (shrink)

Kok-Chor Tan addresses three key questions in political philosophy: Where does distributive equality matter? Why does it matter? And among whom does it matter? He argues for an institutional site for egalitarian justice, a luck-egalitarian ideal of why equality matters, and a global scope for distributive justice.

In the Abu Madi Formation of the Nile Delta Basin, false bright spots may be misinterpreted as being indicative of hydrocarbons due to mixed clastics and carbonates. However, rock-physics analysis of well logs in a particular prospect area where such ambiguity exists suggests that attributes derived using extended elastic impedance inversion may help identify hydrocarbons because they better show anomalous behavior in particular directions that are readily related to pore fluids and lithology. The EEI attributes calculated from well logs correlate (...) extremely well to lithology and fluid properties, thereby differentiating amplitude anomalies caused by gas-bearing sandstones encased in shale from similar amplitudes caused by juxtaposition of high-impedance carbonates over lower impedance water-filled sandstones. Comparing seismically derived EEI attributes to well logs from a productive well and a nonproductive well indicates that seismic inversion can successfully identify lithologies such as shales, sandstones, carbonates, and anhydrite and distinguish gas-bearing from water-bearing sandstones. The technique can thus potentially be used to better delineate and risk prospects in the area, as well as assisting exploration efforts in other locations where similar ambiguities in amplitude interpretation exist. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Addressing a research gap on the relationship between mindfulness and morality, this paper draws insights from Confucius’ notion of jing. I explain how jing essentially refers to maintaining a full, respectful and humanity-centred attention towards others. To illustrate the application of Confucius’ conception of mindfulness, I use the current coronavirus pandemic as an example. On the one hand, mindfulness is useful as a coping mechanism to reduce stress for individuals during the crisis. But an amoral and atomistic approach to (...) mindfulness is inadequate in addressing social problems such as selfishness that stems from panic buying and community infection caused by inconsiderate behaviours. In this regard, Confucius’ concept of respectful attention has the potential to motivate everyone to go beyond self-interest to demonstrate deference, empathy and love towards others. A Confucian orientation of mindfulness extends the existing literature on the ethical foundations and dimensions of mindfulness for educational institutions. (shrink)

This is an expansion of the author's 1991 work which investigates the implications of Gödel's writings on Einstein's theory of relativity as they relate to the fundamental questions of the nature of time and the possibilities for time travel.

What is social entrepreneurship? In, particular, what’s so social about it? Understanding what social entrepreneurship is enables researchers to study the phenomenon and policy-makers to design measures to encourage it. However, such an understanding is lacking partly because there is no universally accepted definition of entrepreneurship as yet. In this paper, we suggest a definition of social entrepreneurship that intuitively accords with what is generally accepted as entrepreneurship and that captures the way in which entrepreneurship may be altruistic. Based on (...) this we provide a taxonomy of social entrepreneurship and identify a number of real cases from Asia illustrating the different forms it could take. (shrink)

ObjectiveWe conducted the following cross-sectional study to comprehensively assess the anxiety among Chinese international students who studied online during the COVID-19 pandemic and its influencing factors.MethodsQuestionnaires were distributed through “Sojump,” and a total of 1,090 valid questionnaires were collected. The questionnaire was divided into two parts: general situation and anxiety assessment of students. The former used a self-made questionnaire, and the international general GAD-7 scale was used to measure anxiety. Chi-square test was used to analyze the differences between groups, and (...) logistic regression analysis was performed for the factors with differences.ResultsAnxiety was found in 707 of 1,090 international students. Chi-square test and multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the incidence of anxiety was higher in the group under 22 years of age than in the group over 22 years of age ; International students living in big cities had a higher incidence of anxiety than those living in rural areas ; international students who socialized 3 times or less monthly had a higher incidence of anxiety than those who socialized more than 3 times per month ; international students who expected purely online teaching had a higher incidence of anxiety than those who expected purely offline teaching or dual-track teaching ; international students with a subjective score of online learning experience of 6 or less had a higher incidence of anxiety than those with subjective scores of more than 6. However, gender, emotional status, BMI, major of study, vaccination status, and degree type had no significant difference in the incidence of anxiety among international students who studied online during the COVID-19 pandemic.ConclusionDuring COVID-19, international students who were younger, came from big cities, had low social frequency, expected purely online teaching, and had poor experience of online classes were risk factors for anxiety during online classes. (shrink)

What are the common denominators for success when we consider increasing gas efficiency and enhancing creativity in organizations? As an analogy, the principles of increasing gas efficiency are applicable to enhancing creativity in organizations: Plan activities in advance, allocate sufficient time, resources, and set a SMART goal with clear priority and focus. Identify talent in ourselves and others and do not fall into the temptation of following others. Big ideas take time. Maintain momentum, avoid interruptions, incorporate new technologies, information, and (...) feedback, and modify action to achieve goals. We have 100% control of our thoughts and action. Stop idling, take action, and do it now. If everyone contributes just a little, the cumulative effect over time can be huge. If we have the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) for doing the right things that will benefit humanity and the whole world, but fail to do them, is this ethical? We, the managers, need to focus on what we have done and what we have failed to do, change our thinking, change our behavior, and accomplish our goals. (shrink)

In this paper two models for movement of respiratory gases in the insect trachea are presented. One model considers the tracheal system as a single flexible compartment while the other model considers the trachea as a single flexible compartment with gas exchange. This work represents an extension of Ben-Tal’s work on compartmental gas exchange in human lungs and is applied to the insect tracheal system. The purpose of the work is to study nonlinear phenomena seen in the insect respiratory system. (...) It is assumed that the flow inside the trachea is laminar, and that the air inside the chamber behaves as an ideal gas. Further, with the isothermal assumption, the expressions for the tracheal partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide, rate of volume change, and the rates of change of oxygen concentration and carbon dioxide concentration are derived. The effects of some flow parameters such as diffusion capacities, reaction rates and air concentrations on net flow are studied. Numerical simulations of the tracheal flow characteristics are performed. The models developed provide a mathematical framework to further investigate gas exchange in insects. (shrink)

The longstanding philosophical orthodoxy on counterfactuals holds, in part, that counterfactuals with metaphysically impossible antecedents are indiscriminately vacuously true. Drawing on a number of examples from across scientific practice, I argue that science routinely treats counterpossibles as non-vacuously true and also routinely treats other counterpossibles as false. In fact, the success of many central scientific endeavors requires that counterpossibles can be non-vacuously true or false. So the philosophical orthodoxy that counterpossibles are indiscriminately vacuously true is inconsistent with scientific practice. I (...) argue that this provides a conclusive reason to reject the orthodoxy. (shrink)

The following paper is concerned with the practice of holding contiones in the Late Republic and the political benefits that flowed from this form of assembly. It will be suggested that the surviving evidence is not adequately representative for a study of contional rhetoric, but that an analysis of the many “attested” rather than “extant” contiones will likely reveal important patterns of practice thanks to its wider sample. In testing the results of this theory, the first section will argue that (...) there was an important and marked imbalance between the exploitation of the contio by populares and by their opponents. In the second section it will be asserted that this was a logical result of the strong attendance of contiones by members of the urban plebs, and the third section will deal with the causes and effects of this phenomenon and the importance of differences between political activity in the senate and political activity in the assemblies. (shrink)

Pore- and fracture-filling gas hydrates were identified from the core samples at several sites during the second Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey expedition. Well logs indicated that gas hydrate occurred in three distinct layers at site GMGS2-08. The gas hydrate saturations calculated from well-log data and the seismic responses for the three gas hydrate-bearing layers, especially within the middle carbonate layer, were poorly known. We estimated gas hydrate saturations using isotropic and anisotropic models based on the mineral composition of the sediments (...) and the effective medium theory. In the upper and lower gas hydrate-bearing layers, saturations estimated from anisotropic models are close to those estimated from pressures cores and chlorinity data. The average saturation using an anisotropic model in the upper hydrate layer is approximately 10% with a maximum value of 25%. In the lower layer, the horizontal and vertical gas hydrate-filled fractures and visible gas hydrate were formed with a maximum saturation of approximately 85%. For the middle layer, well logs show high P-wave velocity, density, high resistivity as well as low gamma ray, porosity, and drilling rate, together indicating a carbonate layer containing gas hydrate. The hydrate saturations calculated from isotropic models assuming hydrate formed at grain contacts are less than 20%, which fit well with two values calculated from chlorinity data for this layer. The upper gas hydrate layer shows no clear seismic response and probably consisted of small fractures filled with gas hydrate. The middle carbonate and lower fracture-filled gas hydrate-bearing layers show pull-up reflections, with the carbonate layer exhibiting relatively higher amplitudes. Pore-filling gas hydrate was also identified just above the depth of the bottom-simulating-reflector from the GMGS2-05 drill site. Below the BSR, the push-down reflections, polarity reversal, and enhanced reflections indicate the occurrence of free gas in the study area. (shrink)