Identification of natural microfractures is important for shale reservoir evaluation. In total, 42 selected core samples from the Wufeng-Longmaxi marine shales in the Fuling gas field, southeastern Sichuan Basin, were analyzed using water-immersion testing, computed tomography scanning, and argon-ion polishing scanning electron microscope experiments, along with edge detection and image stitching analysis methods. The results indicate that the immersion experiment is an effective way to identify natural fractures. Three types of natural microfractures correspond to bubble positions with 250 nm resolution (...) scanning electron microscopy: bedding fractures, particle edge fractures, and dissolution fractures. The bedding and dissolution fractures show the same occurrence as the strata, and they are the main bubbling channels. The occurrence of particle edge fractures varies significantly. Microfractures are capable of forming a fracture network, connecting separated storage spaces in the shale reservoir. The best fracture network is formed by bedding and dissolution fractures in 3D space. Furthermore, apportion of the particle edge and dissolution fractures is capable of forming microfracture networks in shale cores increasing the connectivity of pore spaces. The number of bubble points also indicates a positive correlation with shale laminae, which indicates that microfractures are developed mainly within the laminae. The number of shale laminae and the number of microfracture channels can be calculated quantitatively by the number of bubble points. The observations can be used in the drilling site to estimate the physical properties of shale reservoirs quickly and quantitatively. (shrink)
Fracturing is a key factor for shale oil and gas enrichment and high production. An accurate fracture model can effectively guide shale oil and gas exploration and development. The establishment of a natural fracture model must address the challenges of difficult data acquisition and poor representativeness of data points. To solve these problems, we have developed a method of shale-reservoir natural fracture modeling based on microseismic monitoring data. This method includes three steps. First, we establish an initial natural fracture model (...) based on scale classification, vertical stratification, and genetic classification. Second, the shape and density of the hydraulic fractures are interpreted by microseismic monitoring data to calibrate the initial model of the shale reservoir natural fractures. Third, we verify the rationality of the model by assessment of the fracture porosity and permeability values. The results show that it is possible to calibrate the natural fracture density model using the fracture shape and density as determined by microseismic monitoring. And we predict that an ideal hydraulic fracture network can be formed when the body density of the natural fracturing is greater than 0.3 m2/m3. The crude production of wells is negatively correlated with the development of large-scale structural fractures and positively correlated with small-scale structural fractures. The well trajectory should run through small-scale fracture development sections as much as possible, avoiding large-scale, high-angle fracture areas. This method provides a new approach to model natural fractures in shale reservoirs that has wide applicability and can be used for modeling shale oil and gas reservoirs. (shrink)
Scientists normally earn less money than many other professions which require a similar amount of training and qualification. The economic theory of marginal utility and cost-benefit analysis can be applied to explain this phenomenon. Although scientists make less money than entertainment stars, the scientists do research work out of their interest and they also enjoy a much higher reputation and social status in some countries.
Sandra Field, Jeffrey Flynn, Stephen Macedo, Longxi Zhang, and Martin Powers discussed Powers’ book China and England: The Preindustrial Struggle for Social Justice in Word and Image at the American Philosophical Association’s 2020 Eastern Division meeting in Philadelphia. The panel was sponsored by the APA’s “Committee on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies” and organized by Brian Bruya.
Duncan Pritchard recently proposed a Wittgensteinian solution to closure-based skepticism. According to Wittgenstein, all epistemic systems assume certain truths. The notions that we are not disembodied brains, that the Earth has existed for a long time and that one’s name is such-and-such all function as “hinge commitments.” Pritchard views a hinge commitment as a positive propositional attitude that is not a belief. Because closure principles concern only knowledge-apt beliefs, they do not apply to hinge commitments. Thus, from the fact that (...) a subject knows that he is sitting in a room, and the fact that the subject’s sitting in a room entails his bodily existence, it does not follow that the subject also knows that he is not an envatted brain. This paper rejects Pritchard’s non-belief reading of hinge commitments. I start by showing that the non-belief reading fails to solve the skeptical paradox because the reasons that Pritchard uses to support the non-belief reading do not exempt hinge propositions from closure principles. I then proceed to argue that the non-belief reading is false as it claims that hinge commitments, unlike ordinary beliefs, are rationally unresponsive—with the help of a scenario in which a subject’s experience is internally chaotic, we can safely conclude that the hinge commitment that one is not systematically mistaken about the world is equally responsive to one’s evidential situations. (shrink)
This article describes a representation-based framework of distributed cognition. This framework considers distributed cognition as a cognitive system whose structures and processes are distributed between internal and external representations, across a group of individuals, and across space and time. The major issue for distributed research, under this framework, are the distribution, transformation, and propagation of information across the components of the distributed cognitive system and how they affect the performance of the system as a whole. To demonstrate the value of (...) this representation-based approach, the framework was used to describe and explain an important, challenging, and controversial issue — the concept of affordance. (shrink)
Ben shu tong guo yin ru xi fang xian dai yu yan zhe xue, mei xue de fang fa yu Zhongguo chuan tong wen hua zhi si zhan dui hua yu jiao liu, shi jie, wen xue de ben zhi guan lian ru shou, jie shi chu xing cheng yan yu yi zhi jian mao dun yu zhang li de ben yuan: cun zai ben shen zi xing xian xian bing zi xing yin ni de te xing, shi ta (...) zai xian xiang shang yong yuan cheng xian chu you yu wu de dong tai yun dong, er zhe zhong yun dong ben shen qia qia you gou cheng le yan yu yi de yong heng dong neng he zhang li. (shrink)
Compared to constraint-based causal discovery, causal discovery based on functional causal models is able to identify the whole causal model under appropriate assumptions [Shimizu et al. 2006; Hoyer et al. 2009; Zhang and Hyvärinen 2009b]. Functional causal models represent the effect as a function of the direct causes together with an independent noise term. Examples include the linear non-Gaussian acyclic model, nonlinear additive noise model, and post-nonlinear model. Currently, there are two ways to estimate the parameters in the models: (...) dependence minimization and maximum likelihood. In this article, we show that for any acyclic functional causal model, minimizing the mutual information between the hypothetical cause and the noise term is equivalent to maximizing the data likelihood with a flexible model for the distribution of the noise term. We then focus on estimation of the PNL causal model and propose to estimate it with the warped Gaussian process with the noise modeled by the mixture of Gaussians. As a Bayesian nonparametric approach, it outperforms the previous one based on mutual information minimization with nonlinear functions represented by multilayer perceptrons; we also show that unlike the ordinary regression, estimation results of the PNL causal model are sensitive to the assumption on the noise distribution. Experimental results on both synthetic and real data support our theoretical claims. (shrink)
Modern socialist economic reforms which center on the establishment of a commodity based economic system, demand a reconsideration of human nature. Marxism and human sociobiology give different answers to questions about human nature, but neither is complete in itself. It seems timely, therefore, to suggest that a combination of biological understanding with a Marxist-based social understanding would produce a more adequate notion of human nature, thereby helping us to resolve a number of problems posed by reforms currently taking place in (...) socialist countries. We might also hope to face new challenges posed in the future. (shrink)
This article assumes that a profession is a number of individuals in the same occupation voluntarily organized to earn a living by openly serving a moral ideal in a morally-permissible way beyond what law, market, morality, and public opinion would otherwise require. Our question is whether the concept of profession may have a far wider range than the term, so that, for example, pointing out that a certain language lacks a word for “profession” in our sense, is not enough to (...) show that those who speak the language also lack the concept. We believe the survey of 71 Chinese reported here begins to answer that question. This article has four parts. The first describes who was interviewed, how, when, and so on. The second describes some important features of the survey’s questions, explaining how the questions track the concept of profession. The third part reports and interprets the results relevant to our question. The forth defends a tentative answer to the question with which we began—arguing the survey supports the claim that China has a profession of engineering. This article should serve as a “proof of concept”, that is, a model for similar studies around the world both of engineering and of other occupations thought to be professions. (shrink)
As the younger generation, who like to pursue novelty and excitement, becomes the main consumer and the traditional consumption culture changes in China, the blind box has become a popular product among young people with its uncertain characteristics. Previous studies have mainly explored the role of uncertainty in promotion, while this paper focuses on the role of uncertainty in daily sales of blind box products. Based on the stimulus–organism–response theory, this paper conducted an online questionnaire survey and an empirical analysis (...) in China, which examined the mechanism of the positive impact of uncertainty and the moderating effect of consumption purpose. The results show that uncertainty affects consumers’ purchase intention mainly through affecting their emotional value, which is one dimension of perceived value; consumer purpose also moderates the effect of uncertainty on perceived value, and the effect of perceived value on purchase intention. The results of this study are not only of great significance for understanding the uncertain marketing and blind box products, but also have management implications for enterprises to make use of the uncertain marketing. (shrink)
Qi is one of the most important concepts in Chinese philosophy and culture, and neo-Confucian Zhang Zai plays a pivotal role in developing the notion. This book provides a thorough and proper understanding of his thoughts.
If you are interested in accountability and transparency in public decision-making, this book is for you. If you are interested in ways and means of avoiding capture by vested interests when making public policy, this book is for you. If you are interested in a sustainable and efficient agri-food system which meets the needs of consumers, producers and society, this book is for you.Agriculture remains an important industry in many economies. It is also a key sector with an important role (...) to play in determining nations’, societies’ and households’ nutritional and environmental performance and outcomes. Unfortunately, the agri-food sector in many countries suffers from excessive and poorly focused levels and types of intervention, constrained growth, and unsustainable practices.In his book, Developing Successful Agriculture, Professor Zhang-Yue Zhou provides us with a comprehensive and compelling account of how Australia’s agri-food sector has become so successful even though it receive .. (shrink)
This book offers a comprehensive exploration of geochemical kinetics--the application of chemical kinetics to geological problems, both theoretical and practical.
This book addresses an often-ignored theme in the mission of the current Chinese education reform: cultivating students’ individuality as a foundation of learning. Moreover, it tries to revive the Confucian tradition of self-cultivation while building a connection with the western idea of individuality to provide a meaningful resource for the current reform of Chinese education.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly important in China. This paper investigates the implementation of instruments for dimensions of CSR that are relevant for the Chinese context and the challenges that Chinese companies face. Based on a survey among 109 Chinese companies, we find that formal instruments to implement CSR are rather common. Companies spend most effort in improving the economic aspects of CSR, such as competitiveness, product innovation and process innovation. Only a small minority of the companies set (...) concrete targets and report the realization of these targets for social and environmental goals. This indicates that the attention to social and environmental aspects of CSR is still rather loose. The most important challenges for improving CSR are strong competitive pressure, insufficient support from the government and/or nongovernmental organizations and high costs of CSR implementation. Multiple regression analysis shows that the use of instruments is positively related to company size and foreign ownership and negatively related to lack of resources and support for CSR by investors and consumers. (shrink)
For repeatable motion of redundant mobile manipulators, the flexible base platform and the redundant manipulator have to be returned to the desired initial position simultaneously after completing the given tasks. To remedy deviations between initial position and desired position of each kinematic joint angle, a special kind of repeatable optimization for kinematic energy minimization based on terminal-time Zhang neural network with finite-time convergence is proposed for inverse kinematics of mobile manipulators. It takes the advantages that each joint of the (...) manipulator is required to return to the desired initial position not considering the initial orientation of itself for realizing repeatable kinematics control. Unlike the existed training methods, such an optimization of kinematic energy scheme based on TTZNN can not only reduce the convergent position error of each joint to zero in finite time, but also improve the convergent precision. Theoretical analysis and verifications show that the proposed optimal kinematic energy scheme accelerates the convergent rate, which is tended to be applied in practical robot kinematics. Simulation results on the manipulator with three mobile wheels substantiate the timeliness and repetitiveness of the proposed optimization scheme. (shrink)
More than half a century ago, a so-called Third Side appeared in China's political arena. The word "third" signified that its proponents intended to take a "middle way" amid the desperate, life-and-death battle between the Nationalist party and the Communist party. In a 1946 speech delivered at the Tianjin YMCA, entitled "A Political Line of an Intermediate Nature," Zhang Dongsun presented a clear and to-the-point formulation of this "middle way":In the political aspect, we should adopt more from the British (...) and American type of liberalism and democracy, while at the same time adopting, in the economic aspect, more from the Soviet Union's type of planned economy and socialism. From the negative aspect, we should adopt democracy but not capitalism. We should also adopt socialism but not the revolution of proletarian dictatorship. We want freedom but not an everything-goes attitude. We want cooperation but not struggle. Since we do not want an everything-goes attitude, we do not want monopolies by capitalists. Since we do not want struggle, we do not want class struggle. (shrink)
BackgroundEthics consult services are well established, but often remain underutilized. Our aim was to identify the barriers and perceptions of the Ethics consult service for physicians, advance practice providers, and nurses at our urban academic medical center which might contribute to underutilization.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional single-health system, anonymous written online survey, which was developed by the UCSD Health Clinical Ethics Committee and distributed by Survey Monkey. We compare responses between physicians, APPs, and nurses using standard parametric and non-parametric statistical methods. (...) Satisfaction with ethics consult and likelihood of calling Ethics service again were assessed using a 0–100 scale using a 5-likert response structured and results presented using box plots and interquartile ranges.ResultsFrom January to July 2019, approximately 3800 surveys were sent to all physicians, APPs and nurses with a return rate of 5.5—10%. Although the majority of respondents had encountered an ethical dilemma only approximately half had ever requested an Ethics consult. The primary reason for physicians never having requested a consult was that they never felt the need for help. For APPs the primary reasons were not knowing an Ethics consult service was available or not knowing how to contact Ethics. For nurses, it was not knowing how to contact the Ethics consult service or not feeling the need for help. The median satisfaction score for Ethics consult services rated on a 0–100 scale, from physicians was 76, for AAPs 89, and nurses 70. The median of likelihood of consulting Ethics in the future also on a 0–100 scale was 71 for physicians, 69 for APPs, and 61 for nurses. APP’s and nurses were significantly more likely than physicians to believe that the team did not act on the Ethics consult’s recommendations.ConclusionsBased on the results presented, we were able to identify actionable steps to better engage healthcare providers—and in particular APPs and nurses—and scale up institutional educational efforts to increase awareness of the role of the Ethics consult service at our institution. Actionable steps included implementing a system of ongoing feedback that is critical for the sustainability of the Ethics service role. We hope this project can serve as a blueprint for other hospital-based Ethics consult services to improve the quality of their programs. (shrink)
This essay initiates elements of a Daoist stance as regards the basic assumptions and principles involved in debates on multiculturalism. This is to be achieved via an examination of Zhang Taiyan’s 章太炎 mid-term political philosophy, which is shaped by his interpretation and further development of Daoist thinking, especially the notion of no-thing and the idea of “achieving equality by leaving things uneven”. After explicating the basic tenets that point toward a Daoist stance on what is now called multiculturalism, I (...) discuss Zhang’s concrete proposals concerning the relation between the Han 漢 lineage and the other four major ethnic groups in the to-be-established Republic of China. I then investigate Zhang’s unique theory of the state. Lastly, I explore the discordance in Zhang Taiyan’s thinking despite his privileging of Laozi 老子 and Zhuangzi’s 莊子 ideas. (shrink)
With the continuous improvement of the level of science and technology, the popularization of the Internet and the development of applications, online consumption has become a major force in personal consumption. As a result, digital consumption is born, and digital consumption is not only reflected in transaction consumption at the monetary level. Like some intangible services similar to the use of dating software, it can also become digital consumption. In this environment, a new economic concept, the digital economy, has emerged (...) as the times require. The digital economy helps to achieve the rapid optimal allocation and regeneration of resources and achieve high-quality economic development. Therefore, as a new economic form, the digital economy has penetrated into all fields of human society. The Canopy algorithm is a fast clustering technique that requires only one pass through the data technology to get the results. But it is inaccurate for large-scale data clustering. Therefore, when analyzing the data, it is necessary to use the Canopy algorithm for preliminary clustering, and then combine with other algorithms or model software for refinement. This article introduces the development of the digital economy in the Internet era. It conducts a theoretical discussion on consumer psychology in the context of the digital economy. It introduces the basic calculation formula of the clustering algorithm and the algorithm flow of the Canopy clustering algorithm. It does model optimization for the Canopy clustering algorithm. On this basis, it designs questionnaires for experimental design. The indicators are divided into commodity attributes and consumer psychology. It builds a consumer psychology prediction model and tests the prediction results. The results show that the maximum difference between the prediction results of digital economy consumption psychology based on the Canopy clustering algorithm and the actual results is 0.047. It can be shown that the psychological prediction model of digital economy consumption based on the Canopy clustering algorithm has certain practicability. (shrink)
In the current social media environment, emotional branding communication has become a common marketing tool for brand owners, and therefore it has become particularly important and urgent to study it. Based on the perspective of brand equity theory, combined with the new characteristics of marketing communication in the social media environment, this paper constructed an emotional branding communication model in the social media environment. The system dynamics method was used to simulate and analyze the new product marketing system to assess (...) whether it could stir the emotional needs of the consumers and resonate within their hearts. This paper discusses the asymmetric communication of different brands regarding the same commodity to determine the impact of this exchange mechanism, that is, only the weak brands in the market initially adopt marketing methods, while the strong brands do not participate in social marketing activities. It was found that the influence of marketing frequency and marketing intensity on symmetric and asymmetric communications was different. In the face of different types of competitors, the marketing strategy of weak brands needs emphasis. Through unit consistency test, structure verification test, effectiveness, and rationality test, it was proven that the emotional branding communication model and new product sales interaction simulation model established in this paper were reasonable and effective. (shrink)
The optimization of the business environment helps to create a good market ecological environment and promote industrial development. Based on the theory of institutional complexity, this study constructs the evaluation index system of China's urban business environment and analyzes the influencing factors using the NCA method. It is found that there is no necessary condition for a single element to constitute the high-level development of the tourism industry, but improving public service, total market volume, and innovation environment play universal roles (...) in promoting the high-level development of the tourism industry. Using fsQCA for configuration analysis, two business environment configuration paths with high-level development of the tourism industry are obtained, which shows that there is no single path to promote the development of the tourism industry. In addition, the antecedent paths of high- and low-level tourism industry development are not the opposite, presenting an asymmetric causal relationship. The above findings reveal the realization path of the business environment for the development of China's urban tourism industry. Under the logic of multiple systems, cities can find the business ecological environment that best matches the development of the local tourism industry. (shrink)